Vacation

Actors: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Leslie Mann, Chris Hemsworth, Beverly D'Angelo, Chevy Chase.

Rating: 7 out of 10, Every bit as gross and puerile as promised – and also very funny. My wife laughed almost continuously and as we were leaving said she didn’t like the movie. When I asked her why she was laughing so hard she said it was funny but “so stupid”. I said that’s the point. That’s an apt description of the entire series of Vacation movies – the humor is gross but undeniable. There were several nods to the earlier films – often with very funny sudden turns – such as the fate of the beautiful woman in the hot car. This movie has the next generation of the Griswold clan taking to the road. Clark’s son Rusty (Ed Helms) is now the accident prone but loving dad with kids unappreciative of the majesty of the family vacation. Helms is funnier than Chevy Chase was in the original but the movie plays more like a series of skits. We follow the Griswold family across country in their Albanian rental car where they encounter a cesspool swim, a well-endowed brother in law, a cannibalistic steer, and maniacal truck driver. Leslie Mann is completely underused as the now grown sister but there’s an endless parade of cameos that contribute to the fun. It doesn’t help that both of the kids are more insufferable than needed. An overblown zeppelin is called upon to reprise the role of Clark Griswold, the billing said it was Chevy Chase but I’m not so sure. So, not a film to revel in thespian excellence but pretty damned funny.

MVP: Helms as Rusty, the capable Griswold heir apparent