One of the most loved 80s comedies has just been remade; ‘National Lampoons Vacation’ propelled the famed screenwriter and filmmaker’s career after its imminent success back in the early 80’s. Now the remake has arrived, will it help propel Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley’s career as directors? Let’s see. It’s their first time in the big director’s chair and they haven’t done too bad; and when I mean not too bad, not only has ‘Vacation’ already made profit in its time in America, the two newbies have landed the screenwriters job at the new Spider-Man film at Marvel. Not too bad going for just finishing their first film they have directed. So there’s evidence that ‘Vacation’ has success written all over it, it advanced John Hughes career, and now these guys!
The two people who will be thinking the same is lead actor/actress Ed Helms and Christina Applegate. Both haven’t had a big hit since ‘The Hangover’ in 2009 for Ed Helms and 2004’s ‘Anchorman’ was Christina Applegate’s most recent big hit. These B-star actors and let’s be honest, that’s what they are; are both in need of some box-office success under their belts. They both do well in the movie, I’ll give them that. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the movie, I thought it was going to be awful, but it wasn’t! It’s nothing fantastic, let’s get that clear, but it has some VERY funny moments that make it a successful night to the cinema.
Ed Helms plays Russell Griswold, the father of two boys and is a happily married man who pilots a budget airline company. Deciding that their normal vacation isn’t fun for the family anymore, Russell stirs up a plan to go back to one of his favourite childhood memories, Walley World, a huge theme park. Obviously, things don’t go exactly to plan for the Griswold’s; their misfortune is consistently humorous and occasionally fresh. The star of the film is by far one of the funniest cameos in a long time, Chris Hemsworth. Playing Stone Crandall, Chris Hemsworth’s character is married to Russell’s sister and spends some quality time with the family when they make a stop to their house in Texas. The natural delivery of the comedy is brilliant and made every single person laugh very loud every time he stepped on screen. Known for being quite the hunk on and off screen, Hemsworth plays on that strength well by using it to his characters advantage by being obviously sexual around Ed Helms wife. If it isn’t licking the sauce from her face or walking in on them in the bedroom in just his boxers showing of his ripped body. If it isn’t that, it’s the blatant huge fake penis that so nearly pops out of his underwear.
Albeit, ‘Vacation’ isn’t the greatest comedy of all time, it takes some time to get into the swing of the funny parts of the film, but once it gets there, there’s no turning back. 3 out of 5 stars!
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