Check Out the Trailer

I’ve seen bits and pieces of this film over the years, but never all the way through until now. I was surprised at how subtle some of the satire is and how dead on it is with some of its comments about family vacations. The ending has a nice sardonic touch, which satirizes American family values as well as the Walt Disney empire.

The plot is simple — Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase, FLETCH) wants to drive his family from Chicago to Los Angeles to visit the Wally World theme park. Along the way they encounter everything that could go wrong. Chase is perfect in the role of the overachieving father, with a dialed down performance that is absent from the other VACATION flicks even the solid CHRISTMAS VACATION installment. His wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo, AMERICAN HISTORY X) loves Clark’s enthusiasm and encourages him… up to a point. “Rusty” Griswold (Anthony Michael Hall, PRETTY IN PINK) is a typical horny teen and Audrey Griswold (Dana Barron, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK) is your typical boy-obsessed, rebellious teen. Rusty is just young enough to still dig his father’s vacation plans and Audrey is just old enough to loathe the entire idea.

The film features a lot of classic moments including the dog and motorcycle cop, Ellen’s redneck cousins featuring Randy Quaid (THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) as Eddie, and the whole finale at Wally World. Imogene Coca (TV’s YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS) is unforgettable as the complaining Aunt Edna. Also John Candy has a nice cameo role as an awe-shucks security guard at Wally World.

Director Harold Ramis (Egon from GHOSTBUSTERS, directed GROUNDHOG DAY) really does a great job balancing between the film’s more droll and broad moments. He paces the tone just right allowing the disastrous vacation to reach a boil at the end, making the over-the-top ending still believable, because we feel Clark’s pain. The screenplay is by ’80s sensation John Hughes, writer of BREAKFAST CLUB and director of HOME ALONE. Hughes, known for teen flicks, brought the same feel of his film to his script to PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, which shares a kindred spirit with the Griswold’s plight.

The National Lampoon label has never delivered anything as good since this film. It has the signature crude humor of National Lampoon, but it as has the smarts of good satire. The film knows how to push buttons with a point and purpose. This thoroughly funny film is a lot better than I thought it would be and I enjoyed every moment of it.