Vacation

I've had a feeling that Vacation would be a real stinker for a while now.

The trailers, while pretty funny, seemed to be trying too hard to recreate the magic of the old Griswold escapades but the humor seemed much different than the originals. Whereas they had a lot of physical comedy and funny/cooky situations, this new film seemed like it was more geared towards crude humor and language.

Early reviews started to come having some pretty harsh things to say about this new Vacation and my hunch was all but confirmed.

Now, I'm not going to flat out say that I was wrong, because a decent portion of the new Vacation is really not that good, some parts are even out right bad, but I also found a lot to enjoy and laugh at and the film has a handful of scenes that I would almost argue are worth the price of admission alone. And if we're still being honest here, I looked it up and none of the other "Vacation" films lit critics' worlds on fire either when they released, yet they are regarded as classics to many American families. I'm not saying this one will be held in the same regard (it wont be), but critics don't always get it right.

This new Vacation starts out 30 years later with Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), who is the son from the original, trying to do something nice for his family and take them on a fun vacation to Walley World. It's an immediately familiar premise, and the film even has a pretty meta moment where it states that "this vacation will stand on its own". Luckily it doesn't tread down that path of self recognition for too long because many films aren't that good at. Instead it's 99 minutes of a family vacation from hell, again, much like the older films were. Throughout we basically get a collection/string of scenes where some fall flat on their face (or are ruined by the trailers which = the same thing) and other scenes shine brightly and had me laughing much harder than I anticipated I would be.

It always starts out pleasant enough...

Thor loves that country life!

For me, the parts in the film that faltered the most were the script and delivery of many crude lines. Again, so many of them are given away by the trailers, but many of them just feel so unnatural and almost forced that they come off more awkward than intended. On the other hand, there are a few characters throughout that barge into the film, breath some new life into it, and have some hilarious lines. Chris Hemsworth (yes, that Chris Hemsworth) was incredibly funny during his portion of the film and his constant "faucet" metaphors were both surprisingly clean-natured and hilarious. Charlie Day also has a rather humorous scene, though it may be a little dark for some. Personally I found it hilarious and that scene in particular felt somewhat like the originals where the Griswolds simply stumble upon some plain, old bad luck. Past that, there are some chuckles here and there and a few more solid scenes (the family vs. family fight at the end had me rolling), but I'd say the most consistent laughs of the entire film come from the two brothers and their chemistry. The younger brother, Kevin, is so darkly vicious against his older brother, James, and for some reason I found it to be too funny (maybe it was the part of me that is the "little" brother of my family). Their relationship is fun to watch and I think it's legitimately the only part of the film that was funny 100% of the time.

You don't want to know what they're covered in...

Vacation is not as bad as critics are claiming, though I highly doubt this trip will be regarded as highly as its predecessors. At the end of the day it's a collection of some really great scenes (probably 3-4, maybe 5) surrounded by an okay, sometimes bad, film. I'm hard pressed to recommend it, despite the fact that I enjoyed it overall, so it really comes down to the age old question that surrounds any family vacation: are you willing to endure the annoying and boring times in order to experience the fun ones?

CONS:

• When the script tries to be crude and crass it often falls on its face, hard. Several jokes are met with crickets while many others feel incredibly awkward or out of place
• The running gag of the hi-tech car was dumb. Not sure I laughed once from it
• The trailers (both normal and red-band) ruined several parts/jokes of the film
• Not very memorable at the end of the day and it mimics the original a little too closely

PROS:

• Strong core cast even when the movie isn't
• The brothers' relationship is hilarious and had me in stitches often ("Go to sleep! Go to sleep!")
• Solid soundtrack that plays off the original film's
• Great additional characters in Chris Hemsworth and Charlie Day
• Short and sweet
• A collection of really great scenes scattered throughout 

Rath's Review Score: 6/10