When Hollywood dodges the lazy reboot strategy, you can often get an impressive result. Too bad this probably won’t be successful and the VHS-DVD second chance opportunity has evaporated. Vacation recaptured what the original’s two weaker sequels failed to deliver on: dirty humor (hence this was surprisingly an R-rated flick, not a PG-13) and absurdity. Christmas is an exception due to all the holiday jokes (mostly around family and/or Cousin Eddie) it worked in despite Chevy Chase in the starring role. European had its moments yet it was mostly European stereotypes/expectations and Vegas was phoned in during the late Nineties during the city’s stupid “Vegas is for families” era.
The more accurate (while doomed) title is Vacation:The Next Generation because the trip is focused around Rusty Griswold and his family. I loved how the movie makes a reference to the 1983 hit as Rusty explains how the trip isn’t a reboot, it’s entirely different for there are two sons, not a son and daughter. Well, something went wrong with poor Rusty over the last 32 years, he has a crappier job than his father (airline pilot for an el cheapo carrier), one kid is a bully, the other kid he only fumbles with and a wife like his mother who suffers quietly. Driving all of them across America to Wallyworld in LA like his father Clark did is Rusty’s solution to get everyone to reconnect in an era of iPads, social media and keeping up with the Petersens. There wouldn’t be much of a movie if nothing funny happened along the trip.
As I mentioned earlier, Vacation is dirty or filled with vulgar humor. If you’ve seen the red-band trailer, then you already know one ongoing joke involving Rusty’s oblivious nature about his brother-in-law. I think it worked. Often unfunny hacks like Adam Sandler, Tom Green and Lisa Lampanelli go this route but fail. Their jokes are R-rated yet they’re middle-school level schlock. Here, they recaptured more of the awkwardness everyone loved 32 years ago in John Hughes’ story. A couple key demonstrations: Rusty and Debbie going to the four-corners monument and the oldest son trying to impress a girl he meets along the journey. I’m also guilty of enjoying movies filled with cameos from comedians/comic actors I enjoy: Charlie Day, Tim Heidecker, Nick Kroll, Kaitlin Olson, Michael Peña, Keegan-Michael Key, Ron Livingston, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemmsworth and Norman Reedus. It’s not absolutely perfect neither. There were gags they recycled for continuity: the rental vehicle is a freakish monstrosity, gross hotels, driving stunts, animal harm and dad loves a song the kids think is lame.
The bad/tired elements remain outweighed by the clever/genuinely funny. If I actually laughed out loud a few times, then it was good. I’ve said this for over 20 years, most excuses for movie comedies barely get a chuckle out of me. I’m not jaded nor made of iron, Hollywood just doesn’t try very hard on film. Besides, there’s nothing the theater experience adds to 99% of the comedies produced. Their jokes function equally well on a TV or tablet. Event movies need theaters due to sound and scale. I think word-of-mouth will prove me right or wrong, not the final box-office take.
Alamo Extras: This was my free birthday movie and I got there right away, so I experienced how the theater’s sound system calibrates, pretty cool, Alamo does make the effort to do it correctly; music number from Pink Lady & Jeff; unknown Sixties band covering “Summertime Blues,” the trailer for Christmas Vacation; Seal’s video “Kiss From a Rose” which was also a long Batman Forever trailer; anecdote from HuffPo about Josh Falcon’s TSA troubles (the gentleman has a naturally long large body part TSA mistakes for a weapon); a dirty music video starring Josh Falcon and his woes; trailer for Are We There Yet?; a Yugo ad; Homer Simpson buying a foreign car, “remember, put it in H!”; commercial for the Go-Go’s second album Vacation; recording of an elderly non-English-speaking woman on a roller coaster; Tim & Eric bit about going on vacation; comedy skit in Spanish about chicken; Chevy Chase’s singing appearance on The Groove Tube…I forgot the jerk could sing.