Vacation

Very few films will feature a father-son chat about rim jobs. Don’t know what that is? Neither did this father (Ed Helms), nor this son (Skyler Gisondo). Do know what that is? This is probably a good film for you. A real good film.

I knew Vacation was the film for me with the re-creation of the sports car/temptress scene from the original. You might remember how Chevy Chase battles hazards and infidelity chasing Christie Brinkley’s Ferrari all over the Southwest in 1983, yes?  In this version, the hot girl in the hot Ferrari pulls up to taunt Rusty Griswold v5.0? v.6.0? (Helms). He’s a bit taken aback, but clearly pleased (who wouldn’t be?), then points out with one small gesture the wedding ring. I liked that. He’s flattered, of course, that she doesn’t leave, but before it can get awkward, he turns his head to watch the road and she’s demolished by a semi coming from the other direction.   HA!  I did mention this film wasn’t for everybody, yes?

The abused premise here is that this Rusty, briefly attuned to his family’s disappointment, has decided to forego the annual summer cabin trip and recreate a little slice of Hell from his own past – the road trip to Wally World. Personally, I know my own infernal afterlife torture will include several thousand such family road trips, each one uniquely designed to humiliate and demoralize me as punishment for all the wrong in my life. Vacation completely understands this point of view with unsubtle gags like the confusing foreign rental car and the youngest Griswold boy constantly attempting to strangle his wimpy older brother with a plastic bag. I’m sure by now you read the part where I didn’t think this film was for everybody.

Not everything here is a gem; Rusty’s attempt to appropriate a rambunctious familiarity with his wussyboy modeled from family friends falls fatally flat. Also, one might tire of Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” or the eight different versions of “Holiday Road,” first heard in National Lampoon’s Vacation and not exactly improved in the thirty years since.

Vacation hides no deeper truth or meaning; this is a comedy in the sense of: laugh or don’t. There isn’t really a long line of seedy couples in line to have after-hours sex in four states at once. Or at least, I don’t think there is. And I’m pretty sure if Thor had a footlong Norwegian sausage downstairs, we’d know before this moment. I feel like every year of the past decade, however, has yielded an R-rated comedy that looks a lot like a normal film and turns out to be a raunch riot – We’re the Millers, Bridesmaids, The Hangover. I’ve enjoyed all these films … a lot. And I think this is the 2015 version.

♪Here in our car
We can travel the earth
Ignoring the fun
And sucking out mirth
In car

Here in our car
Wally Worlds await
Coin flip between
That and jacket,straight
In car

Here in our car
The days are too long
Then stopping to see
Chris Hemsworth’s shlong
In car♫

Rated R, 99 Minutes
D: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein
W: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein
Genre: Exaggerated family togetherness horror
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Guessing folks who had fond, but not overly fond, memories of the original
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: My friend Aaron, a devoted fan of National Lampoon’s Vacation

♪ Parody inspired by “Cars”