Vacation (2015)

January 11, 2024 8:12 AM

[TRAILER] Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, a grown up Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) takes his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) and their two sons (Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins) on a cross-country road trip to the coolest theme park in America, Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.

Also starring Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Charlie Day, Catherine Missal, Ron Livingston, Norman Reedus, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, E'myri Crutchfield, Nick Kroll, Tim Heidecker, Kaitlin Olson, Michael Peña, Colin Hanks, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein.

Written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves). Music by Mark Mothersbaugh.

27% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Available for digital rental, as well as free while flying Iceland Air, apparently. JustWatch.

posted by DirtyOldTown (3 comments total)

I saw this on an airplane coming back from vacation. It was loud and stupid and obnoxious and I laughed and laughed anyway because it was what I needed that day, and because Christina Applegate is a treasure.

It is bad, but in a perfectly updated version of the precise kind of crass and cringy way the original films were, which is a neat little feat, in its shabby way. So depending on whatever residual fondness you may have for those films (likely entirely depending on what age you were when they came out and how many times you saw them on cable), you may like me well find this enjoyable, even if not particularly defensible.

Seriously, though: Christina Applegate is one of the best comedic stars of Gen X.

On Letterboxd, I gave this a (generous) 2.5 stars out of 5 but I also marked it with a little heart.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:15 AM on January 11

That's a fair characterization, DirtyOldTown. Not a *good* movie per se, but stupid fun. Worth it for Chris Hemsworth and the references to "Kiss From a Rose."
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:03 AM on January 12

I think the joke of the Vacation films is not that the Griswold family is awful, but that all families feel like they're awful, secretly, behind closed doors. That's why they're recognizable, why we can relate to them. None of the movies are great, but that is a terrific nail to hang a shaggy dog comedy on, and at least this newest entry gets that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:40 AM on January 17