Photo Courtesy: New Line Cinema & Warner Bros. Entertainment
Well, Rusty, it’s that time of the year again. Family comes together and we all learn valuable life lessons to be passed on to the next generation. It’s National Lampoon time. So let’s take a trip down that holiday road and enjoy what life has to offer us, taking it one day at a time, living in each moment as it happens. Thus, is the essence of Vacation.
Vacation is a reboot of a comedy classic, which, if you had never heard of before, spawns from the National Lampoon magazine publication that ran from 1970 to 1998 and produced a variety of parody and satire in film, radio, and a plethora of other media outlets across the world. Released in 1983 was National Lampoon’s first Vacation movie starring Chevy Chase with a screenplay written by John Hughes, yes, THE John Hughes. If you aren’t familiar with Hughes work, then you need to crawl out from whatever gutter you were born and raised in and visit whatever remaining video rental brick and mortar outlet that is still open and ask for the entire John Hughes anthology.
The new, rebooted Vacation movie brings back all the old humor and laughs while still holding its own in terms of uniqueness and cleverness that is to be expected from a reboot. Vacation stars Ed Helms as Rusty and Christina Applegate as his wife and mother of their two boys. Does Helms live up to the role as the new replacement for Chevy Chase? You bet. He brings an extra dimension to Rusty that had not been in previous Vacation movies, but also the naturally hilarious qualities that make Helms a superior comedic actor.
This Vacation is rated R and deservingly so. Expect a level of raunchiness unseen in previous Lampoon films. But it’s all worth it as it adds to the masterful production. But it can feel laggy at times with long awkward pauses that maybe try and force a bit of laughter here and there, but still it manages to succeed in the majority producing large bursts of laughter that could end up really scaring the person next to you.
The cameos, oh man, the cameos. If you are at all familiar with the funniest people currently killing it in comedy, with the exception of Kevin Hart whom you can see in just about every other movie, then expect to be wildly pleased as they all appear on screen at once in an epic moment of sheer funny. It’s 3 minutes that I would have paid the full ticket price just see again. But no spoilers, you’ll have to see it for yourself. And for an extra challenge, see if you can name them all as they enter on screen one at a time.
The adventure convinces you of its entertainment. It draws you in and keeps you there, even duct taping you into your seat for the more awkward and tense scenes. As far as reboots go, this one does very well. Helms and Applegate both bring the laughs and even some tears from that said laughter.
Go check out Vacation in theaters now. It’s a perfect addition to the summer comedy line up. Just check out the trailer below for a little taste of what you’re in for:
