Skip to main content

Vacation (2015)

Is 4 stars generous? Maybe, but I watched all 5 Vacation movies over a weekend, and this one was the only one that really made me consistently laugh. Ed Helms and Christina Applegate do a very good job taking over the lead roles from Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. 

Chase and D'Angelo both have small roles in the film. My first thought was: D'Angelo has aged gracefully, but what in the hell has happened to Chase? The 18 years between Vegas Vacation (1997) and this film haven't been kind to him. 

So, the basic premise of this film is the same as the original Vacation (1983): A cross-country to Wally World. The movie acknowledges this with a short "meta" scene. I thought that scene was funny, and I like the Albanian rental car. I thought for sure it could be driven in either direction, but they never showed that. It did come with a rather sus keypad that included quite a few unnecessary options. 

Each of the main characters is developed enough to be interesting, and the stops along the trip are fun, starting with a stop at Debbie's (Applegate) college sorority, a bath in raw sewage at Hot Springs, Arkansas, and more than a few awkward moments with Audrey (Leslie Mann) and Stone (Chris Hemsworth) at their cattle farm/mansion in Texas. 

Oh, and this time the family makes it to Wally World, and it's actually open. After waiting in line all day for the one roller coaster ride, they end up having to fought for a spot on the last ride of the day... They win the fight, but the Griswold's luck being what it is, something goes wrong with the rollercoaster. 

Regardless, the family dynamics has changed. They now understand one another a lot better, and Rusty and Debbie actually do something together as a couple -- they fly to Paris. 

I like this movie. I read the review of Glenn Kenny (writing for the Ebert.com website). He hated it, giving it a one-star review. But if this movie rates one star, what about the European, Christmas, and Vegas Vacations? Are all of those negative 5 stars? 

Rating: 4/5 stars

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Digging for the Truth" Experiment #4 -- The Federalist Radio Hour

I first heard of Sean Davis last week. He created an online magazine called The Federalist in 2011, and he currently has about 500,000 followers on X.  It was about last week that he posted something amazing. He suggested if the Supreme Court doesn't rule the way they should, not only should Trump just ignore the ruling, if they keep obstructing the administration, he should just dissolve the Court altogether.  And I thought, wow. This guy is saying outrageous stuff like that, and there's an audience for it.  So, I decided I'd listen to an episode of The Federalist podcast: April 17, 2025 -- Deportation, Due Process, and Deference to the American People (40 minutes) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/deportation-due-process-and-deference-to-the/id983782306?i=1000703904873 In the 40-minute conversation, the host and guest discussed why due process wasn't required for illegal immigrants.  The case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was mentioned for a brief second, but...
Post a Comment
Read more

In Utero

  In 1994, I wore my In Utero shirt to college. I’d walk down the hall, and people would look at the shirt. I still remember a professor looking at it, not apparently hip to the scene. She asked, “Bret, is there something you’re trying to tell us?” I had no idea what I was trying to say. Kurt Cobain had just shot his head off with a shotgun. Before that life-changing event, I hadn’t been the biggest fan of Nirvana, but I did recognize the immediate impact “Smells Like Teen Spirit” had on music, or at least on MTV. Nirvana had seemingly killed and buried Hair Metal, and they had done it single-handedly. What exactly was this “Alternative” sound? It was weird, because soon it felt like everything was “alternative,” and that didn’t make any sense. Once everything is the same, how can it be anything but standard, normal? Nirvana was okay, but at least at the time I was wearing the merch, I was much more into Offspring and Green Day and Tool. And that’s about as far as I went into...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Must Betray You -- Ruta Sepetys

I appreciate the pacing. The author's epilogue includes her mission statement -- historical fiction as a way to keep history alive. Romanis is an obscure place, but she hopes people reading the book will take an interest in its history.  She also makes the point that there are no clean endings. So, the evil dictator and his wife were killed, but the problems they created didn't magically go away, the country still had to find its way and move forward, and it was a process. 
Post a Comment
Read more