Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) is a pilot on a commuter airline. He shies away from the lengthy overseas airlines to spend more time with his family. Still something seems to be wrong with the obviously dysfunctional pack. Wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) is bored silly and dreams of vacationing in Paris. Younger son Kevin (Steele Stebbins) has free range of the English cuss word dictionary and bullies his bigger and older brother James (Skyler Gisondo).
Rusty decides it is time to reunite the family and relive his 1983 family vacation (National Lampoon’s Vacation) where they drove cross country to visit Wally World in California. He rents an Albanian SUV for the adventure which turns out to be the film’s funniest character.
This summer vacation movie never approaches the comic family bonding mission of the Lampoon original. Exposure to a series of toilet and alcohol guzzling vignettes does nothing to bring the family together. Language is atrocious and explicit male nudity puts the movie into an RXXX level not suitable for any audience.
Helms acting shows some glimmer of hope. But even the cameo appearance of Chevy Chase does little to prevent this movie from a deserving trip to the trash bin.
“Vacation” fails on all level and justifiably earns an F grade.
The movie is currently playing at the Barnstorm and Old Mill Playhouse theaters in The Villages.
Jack Petro reviews movies for Villages-News.com