Vacation

Have I mentioned before that I like comedies? Probably far too many times than my memory allows. When I used to see all the older comedies say, back in the 80's, even though they were unrefined, there was still an element of humor with each of them. "Pretty in Pink", "Home Alone", "Uncle Buck", even the original "Vacation" were films one could count on to bring you a certain amount of laughs, albeit not through the entire film, but laughs nonetheless. We now have a reboot of that infamous 80's comedy, "Vacation" in our midst.

Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), the youngest child from 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation" is all grown up with a family of his own and fond childhood memories of a certain family road trip to Walley World, "America's Favorite Family Fun Park". Like his father, Clark (Chevy Chase), Rusty wants to forge closer bonds with his own family-- wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) and his sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins)-- so he buys a souped-up Albanian van and convinces them to set off on their own crazy cross-country jaunt to Walley World. Along the way, they confront a harrowing trucker and his rig, an emotional river-rafting guide, Chad (Charlie Day) and visit with Audrey (Leslie Mann), Rusty's sister and her husband, Stone Crandall (Chris Hemsworth). Needless to say, all does not go as planned.

Others to round out the cast are Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold, Clark's wife, Catherine Missal as Adena, Ron Livingston as Ethan, Norman Reedus as Trucker, Keegan-Michael Key as Jack Peterson and Regina Hall as Nancy Peterson.

This was surprisingly directed well by virtual newcomers to the director's chair, John Francis Daley (Shorts) and Jonathan M. Goldstein (Shorts). By any seasoned director, this would've been considered mediocre at best, but these guys have no other feature film experience and that makes this amazing--nothing memorable, but given more experience and these guys could really take off. It was written by Goldstein ("Horrible Bosses" '11, "Horrible Bosses 2 (story) '14) and Daley ("Horrible Bosses" '11, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" '13, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" '13, Horrible Bosses 2" (story) '14). OK, enough with the credits--this is where the problem lies. With the experience that came to this table, it really wasn't a difficult stretch for either screenwriter to write, or in this case, rewrite this. This was nothing more than an updated version of the 1983 rendition, which I guess, the acorn doesn't fall too far from the tree--Rusty falling right into his dad's footsteps. But having practically the same script? Seriously!? Other than a few humorous moments, the one redeeming moment in this was when the family met Stone Crandall (Hemsworth). This actor was basically parodying the glossed tabloid image that has been fed to us about how some people want to see Hemsworth as this fun-loving sex symbol that is built and doesn't mind showing his body off. His Southern accent and 'bad-boy' fun way about himself was the save with this film. Unfortunately, his part in the flick was short-lived and left the audience having to fend for themselves.

What can I say, this had potential, and while there were some funny moments, the ho-hum script only left the audience begging for more than what they got.

Out of 4 Stars: 1.5                               Rated: R                                 99mins.