Vacation
(2015)What could go wrong?
Ed Helms (The Hangover) and Christina Applegate (Anchorman) are the next generation of Griswolds, following on from National Lampoon's Vacation, desperate to enjoy a family holiday with their two boys. Co-stars original Griswold Chevy Chase as Helms' dad, Leslie Mann (The Other Woman) and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) wielding a mighty prosthetic... no, not a hammer. From the writers of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Horrible Bosses 2, making their directorial feature debuts.
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Directed by John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein (feature debut)
Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth, Chevy Chase, Keegan-Michael Key, Beverly D'Angelo, Charlie Day, Michael Peña, Regina Hall
Written by John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein (based on the characters created by John Hughes)
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Vacation
BY ss1234 nobody
I liked the film and found it very funny. However it was very crude and dumb which people unlike me dislike.
Showing 2 of 2 reviews. See all reviews
The Press Reviews
28%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Helms, a funny performer, is just the face of a mining expedition for easy yuks out of a recognised title. Full Review
The filmmakers’ unsubtle style is responsible for killing many of the jokes. But they do succeed with several of the performers. Full Review
These charmless characters are meant to learn that spending time with each other isn’t so bad, yet surviving 100 minutes with them is one of the great cinematic endurance tests of our time. Full Review
Trades the earlier films’ endearing buffoonery for a cheap nastiness reminiscent of writers (and first-time directors) Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s “Horrible Bosses.” Full Review
Leslie Mann and wild-card Chris Hemsworth, as her cock-flashing hubby, get the heartiest hoots. The rest is comic history warmed over. Full Review
Kids of the '80s who grew up watching the original on a worn-out VHS during summer holidays will feel postmodern warm-fuzzies, but Vacation virgins shouldn't feel left out. Full Review
Less a reboot, more a hit-and-miss cover-version. The cast are game, Applegate especially, but the laughs flatten like a deflated tyre. Full Review
Best you stay at home. Full Review
BY Giles Hardie Flicks Writer
Stupid? Yes. Adults only? F--k Yes. Dumb family comedy? You betcha. And, well, Chevy Chase? Yes. Though, thankfully not much. That’s right, it’s a National Lampoon’s reboot as the Griswolds 2.0 go on an ill-conceived family vacation to Wally World. While that sentence alone is about as massive as the Berlin Wall when it comes to generation divides, the concept of terrible family holidays stands strong regardless of whether you are old enough to have journeyed with the original Griswolds through Europe, Christmas and countless other wayward Wally World pursuits.... More
Ed Helms of Office and Hangover fame takes on the mantle of Russ, the grown up youngest Griswold who, like his father (Chase) decades before him, is determined to unite his family in less-than-ideal times through the means of a car trip across the USA.
Everything that can go wrong does, usually in the form of a celebrity cameo and in spectacular fashion, but while you might have feared a tired imitation of its ancestors, the makers of Vacation recognised one crucial thing: The National Lampoon’s Vacation films were not high art. They were not great cinema, nor complex capers, nor satirical masterpieces. They were stupid and proud. A series of films that committed, whole-heartedly, to having a lot of stupid fun.
So Vacation has A LOT of stupid fun. What-does-this-button-do car gags! Awkward father-son misinterpretation! Frolics in faeces! They have it all and they relish every moment. Heck, Chris Hemsworth is little more than one big penis joke for the entire time he’s in the film, but it works because he hams it up like nothing else.
Vacation promises nothing but a wealth of big, gut-bursting belly laughs that appeal to your inner toddler (who has somehow also graduated from sex ed) and it delivers.
You will laugh. Lots.Hide
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