When we saw them last nearly 20 years ago, the Griswolds were getting themselves into one predicament after another during their trip to Las Vegas. But in the new film Vacation, time has passed, the kids have grown up, and young Rusty is now an airline pilot with a family of his own. In many ways, this sequel is certainly derivative of previous installments in this franchise; however, the new Vacation may just very well be the funniest one yet.
When Rusty (Ed Helms) discovers that his family has been only pretending to like the cottage they’ve spent every summer vacation at for years, he decides to surprise them with a family-bonding road trip to Walley World, just like the one from his own childhood that he remembers so fondly. This trip holds very low interest for wife Debbie (Christina Applegate), who’s too preoccupied worrying that her marriage is growing stale, but she’s hopeful that the close proximity will bring her and Rusty closer together. The last thing their two sons want, meanwhile, is to spend days in a car together — sweet, dorky teen James (Skyler Gisondo) is constantly bullied by preteen Kevin (Steele Stebbins), who thinks his big bro is the biggest loser imaginable. The rest of the original Griswold clan are relegated to cameos here — Rusty and co. make a pit stop to visit sister Audrey (Leslie Mann), who now lives on a ranch in Texas with her husband Stone (Chris Hemsworth), a cowboy type whom Debbie finds irresistible, while Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo (as parents Clark and Ellen) appear only very briefly near the end.
Though the film places its focus squarely on the new generation of Griswolds, it’s also looking very much to the past. Those in the audience weaned on the original film — 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation — will find a lot that looks familiar; in a structural sense, one can almost look at this as a remake as much as a sequel. However, this is a film very much aware of its history. Early in the film, Rusty glances through old photo albums, and we see still images from each of the previous films (including the seemingly dozens of actors who have previously played Rusty and Audrey). The film also tries very hard to justify its existence in a funny and enormously self-aware scene where Rusty does his utmost to explain to his kids how different this trip will be from the one he took as a child — When James announces that he’s “never even heard of the original vacation,” his dad reassures him that it “doesn’t matter. The new vacation will stand on its own.” Another difference, he explains, is that the original vacation had a boy and a girl, while this one has two boys. There are a number of visual gags that pay homage to the original film (think: Christie Brinkley in the Ferrari); while these work just fine on their own, they’re even more effective in context, especially since they often subvert our expectations by twisting in a surprising direction.
I’m normally critical of studio franchises that pump out cookie-cutter sequels that have absolutely no artistic reasons for existing. Instead of finding interesting or innovative ways to advance the story, these sequels are often made simply for financial reasons — Jurassic World is a prime example of this from earlier this summer, and that’s now the highest-grossing film of all time after Avatar and Titanic. That being said, I admit that I am a lot more forgiving on the comedy side of things, as long as the film is funny. And boy oh boy is Vacation an absolute riot! I went in with fairly low expectations and spent the next 90 minutes laughing harder than I have in some time — this might be the funniest film since This Is the End, or perhaps even Bridesmaids.
Writer/directors John Francis Daley (who played Sweets on Bones) and Jonathan M. Goldstein, writers of previous comedies such as Horrible Bosses, have filled their film with all the gross-out humour, visual gags, and hilarious dialogue that you could ask for, too much of which is spoiled in the film’s trailer. From a visit to Debbie’s old sorority house (where the boys learn that Mommy was no angel in college) to a relaxing dip in what the family thinks are hot springs to an unforgettable visit to Audrey and Stone’s ranch (where Rusty proves that he’s the worst cattle herder of all time), Vacation constantly surprises with how far over the line it’s willing to go to get the laugh. There’s never anything safe about this film’s sense of humour. The language in this film is also surprisingly adult, much more so than I remember the previous films being — it’s definitely not a film you’d want to bring your kids to, unless you’re cool with answering a bunch of awkward questions afterwards.
I would never try to tell you that this is anything close to being a Great Film, but how many Hollywood comedies make you laugh so much that you gasp for air? This one does, and as far as I’m concerned that makes it incredibly worthwhile.
