National Lampoon Vacation Movies

Recently revisited the first 3 and watched the 4th one for the first time.

1. National Lampoon's Vacation: Still a classic and among the best of the series. What I love about the movie is that it is first and foremost an adult comedy. You have random Beverly D' Angelo tits, incest jokes, a dog named snots and his unfortunate fate, cousin Eddie and his family, the whole Wally World sequence, etc. This film works in no small part due to a great script by John Hughes and direction from Harold Ramis.

2. European Vacation: While nowhere as good as the first one, there's still alot to like about this installment. Eric Idle's bicycler, visiting the relatives in Germany, and getting new clothes in Italy. The film is also a case study of how much shit one could get away with in a PG-13 movie back in the day. I was surprised that for the most part, the film is right up there in showing as much skin as the R-rated first installment.

3. Christmas Vacation: This one is hard to rank for me. While I hate that this series morphed into a family franchise with this installment, one can't deny that it's one of the funniest in the series. Pretty much every gag in this movie hits its target. From the Christmas tree to the light show to the return of Cousin Eddy, this movie fires on all cylinders. Sad to say, this would be the last time we'd see this Chevy Chase ever again.

4. Vegas Vacation: If there was ever a premise that would mark the return to its R-rated roots, it would have to be the one of the Griswalds going to Las Vegas. Instead what we have is probably one of the most neutered and safe movies in the series. It's even rated PG. So no skin, no cussing, and no adult situations. None of this would be so bad if the thing (like Christmas Vacation) had some laughs in them. To put this movie in perspective, I laughed more during White Chicks than I did during VV. The sad thing is that if you took the story elements as presented here and let someone like John Hughes write it, this might have been up there with the original and CV in terms of comedy. The material was there but there was nobody at the helm who knew what to do with it.

I know there's a fifth installment in the series called Christmas Vacation 2, but I can't bring myself to watch it. Vegas Vacation did me in. Some things that stuck out for me.....

You can track the neutering of Chevy Chase by watching the Vacation Movies until he becomes a full blown eunich in the last installment. It doesn't seem the guy has a sex drive any more in the last installment.

You can track the neutering of the PG-13 rating during this series. Watching EV recently, I'm surprised this wasn't rated R. While you can tell a few things were toned down, this was much more and R-13 than a PG-13 if you know what I mean. With CV, it's apparent that the things that are allowable with this rating up until today were set in stone by that movie's release.

John Hughes is a national treasure and needs to be making movies again. Come back man. We forgive you for Curly Sue. Chevy Chase and Steve Martin need you now more than ever.

All in all, a good series of movies IF you stop at CV. Heartbreak awaits you if you go beyond that.

Thanks for the correction on that. European Vacation has some classic stuff in it but as a whole doesn't work quite as well as the first or third one. I did like the bit on how polite everyone was when Clark crashed into their cars ("Oh no worries, keep it as a souvenir") and the whole sex tape thing. Plus that whole romantic date Clark and Ellen have with the real "French culture". The movie gets unfairly hated IMO.

In regards to Vegas Vacation, I read on IMDB (not the most reliable of sources) that the original script was much raunchier than what eventually came out. From what I understand, some writers were brought in to tone the movie down so it would be a family comedy. Didn't quite work. But even toned down, there were bits that should have killed.....and didn't. It was as if the producers of Family Matters had a shot at making a Vacation movie. It was zany but had zero wit. Poor Chevy Chase. The guy looks like he's embarrassed to be there. I don't blame him.

If another "Vacation" movie is made, they need to drop the whole Russ and Audrey are still kids thing. Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo are simply too old to make that work. My fan fic scenario for a fifth vacation movie would be something like a Winnebago trip that Clark takes with his grown children and their spouses. Maybe have John C Reilly as the grown up Russ or maybe Audrey's husband but don't pretend that a 60 year old Chase is the father to a 14 and 18 year old. Also have someone like Judd Apatow or Tina Fey behind the scenes writing and/or directing the thing.

Hmmm. Never saw it as massively flawed. It's pretty much a perfect Christmas comedy in my book. As a Vacation movie, it's pretty tame but it still makes me laugh hard. Something that can't be said about Vegas Vacation.

Well, Vegas Vacation needed to be that entry. How can the most family friendly Vacation movie be set in Vegas of all places? Does not compute. I'll amend my previous idea and say that the next one doesn't need the kids (except maybe in cameos). For a series that's so played out, I have this odd desire to see another if done right with some of today's talent behind the scenes.

Replacing the kids never bothered me that much. They really weren't well developed characters to start with. I sort of have a soft spot for fat Audrey but the best over all was Juliet Lewis. I also like Anthony Michael Hall as the first Rusty.

One false note to me in the 4th one was Clark's reaction to his son living the high life in Vegas. I was expecting an "atta boy" but instead got a "you are in so much trouble". That's when I knew this was a Vacation film in name only. So much wasted potential.

I'd say Christmas Vacation is definitely up there in terms of laughs in the series. I'd say it's even with the first one. Oh and Randy Quaid totally steals that movie. In some ways it plays like a spiritual sequel to Planes, Trains and Automobiles (which I think came out the previous year). My favorite gag of the movie has to be the cat's demise. Such a great scene.