VACATION (2015)

To scrutinize what went irredeemably wrong with the latest Vacation reboot is to pinpoint exactly where comedy went awry in the mid-90’s. The Farrelly Brothers came to providence and their movies slathered both gross-out, scatological humor with pathos in equal measure (and to wondrous effect in There’s Something About Mary, Kingpin and Dumb and Dumber). However, every success is the surrogate father of bastardized imitations.

2015’s Vacation is a mean-spirited, consistently unfunny copycat of that era where comedy reached farther down for the gag reflex than the rib tickle. How else to explain the rampant pedophilia jokes (Norman Reedus materializes in a cameo as a scruffy sexual predator who lures children into his truck with a teddy bear) and gay panic scenarios about James (Skyler Gisondo), Rusty’s (a mugging Ed Helms) introspective son.

To their credit, Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley don’t waste any time before delving right into comically bankrupt material with an opening montage of random vacation photos over a Holiday Road redux. Rusty’s pubescent son Kevin (Steele Stebbins) is a putrid caricature whose sole purpose is the shock value of a youngster spouting expletives and being an Omen doppelganger to his older, emasculated sibling. You’ll want to whisk him off the screen and you’ll quickly denounce Rusty and Debbie (Christina Applegate) as abhorrent parents for raising and placating such a prick.

Each joke is accompanied by a painfully obvious execution. For example, Rusty brags about the sensor system in his Prancer but it quickly malfunctions when he wedges his arm in the door. Rinse and repeat the Murphy’s Law ad nauseum. We could realistically empathize with the Griswolds when they accidentally took a detour in the 1983 classic or when they skulked for miles in search of the seasonal tree in Christmas Vacation. Nothing is remotely corporeal or grounded when they frolic in raw sewage or nearly descend down a waterfall.

A stab at meta references (ala the infinitely superior 21 and 22 Jump Street) to James not “hearing about the original vacation” backfire because the phraseology doesn’t flow in the context. As Stone Crandell, the Adonis husband of Audrey (Leslie Mann), a stranded Chris Hemsworth is equipped with a gargantuan phallic prop and faucet analogies which are pretty haggard traits for jocular possibilities.

For mercy’s sake, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reprise their roles in a rather dejected capacity. Chase augments his Pierce wackiness from Community which is a complete disgrace to the nurturing Clark Griswold we all knew. Glimpsing Chevy fumble with a guitar is as unappealing a sight of forsaken instincts as Jerry Lewis in Hardly Working.

Perhaps, an Audrey-centric sequel might’ve been more fecund terrain since female-driven comedies like Spy and Trainwreck have done blockbuster business and garnered critical acclaim. Alas, we’re being suffocated by this unholy spawn. The ratio hasn’t swung in a continuation of the franchise’s favor. Time to repossess the Truckster and condemn Walley World as a contaminated wasteland.

Rating: .5 out of 5

Only a week away from the release of the new sequel reboot of the Vacation series on July 29th and now would be the apt time to revisit the zeitgeist when Chevy Chase was a comedy demigod.

NATIONAL LAMPOON’S VACATION

It might be hard to believe for anyone under 30 but Chevy Chase was the first breakout star from Saturday Night Live. Now he is mired in temperamental controversy with his resignation from Community but he was only on SNL for the maiden season before he embarked on a lucrative film career. His early film success spawned three undisputed comedy classics- Caddyshack, Fletch and National Lampoon’s Vacation.

With the training wheels removed after Caddyshack, Harold Ramis is more polished in his handling of Vacation. No more coming-of-age subplots or unnecessary deviations but some gags lose their luster from repetition (Brinkley cameo, the Holiday Road anthem, etc.). John Hughes’ hospitable, gradually gut-busting script firmly revolves around the Griswold family and their patriarch Clark’s (Chase) rhapsody to have a cross-country adventure en route to the Wally World amusement park.

It’s an understatement that Chase is flawless as the overzealous father Clark. His desperation to provide ecumenical fun to his entire family is congenial and adds a warmth to the normally aloof Chase who usually rises above his stark situations with sardonic asides ala Fletch. He is elated and optimistic over the simplest of mundane rituals – the car trade-in. His Mr. Magoo double-take over his flattened former vehicle is rib-tickling.

The farcical elements of Vacation are a springboard for Murphy’s Law (“Nothing worthwhile is easy”). Despite the contrivances, Vacation is teeming with relatable scenarios of travel (the discordant singalongs, the Augean motels, sightseeing, etc.) and wry Walt Disney satire. Once Clark’s frangible exterior is dispirited by the misadventures, the glint of unhinged mania in Chase’s one-track demeanor is fabulously funny.

Sometimes, the humor is delectably politically incorrect such as when the Griswolds detour through an urban neighborhood that is crime-ridden (Clark’s stab at slang “What it is homes?”), Clark’s adulterous flirtation with the Girl in the Red Ferrari (Christie Brinkley) and an inopportune roof shrine for the deceased Aunt Edna (Imogene Coca). Midway through the film, we are introduced to the recurring character of Cousin Eddie and Randy Quaid is a supremely uncouth foil for Clark insofar as he is not the bread-winner, his mutated gene pool is inbred (one of his daughter was born without a tongue) and routinely supplicates for astronomical loans.

In the pantheon of Chevy Chase pictures, the identifiably hilarious, sprawling Vacation ranks among the best and his knack with slapstick is nonpareil (his scolding of his children with his wife, Ellen’s (Beverly D’Angelo) panties wrapped around his index finger). It has withstood the test of time because everyone can empathize with Clark’s idealistic purview of a generational bonding experience.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5