Arts & Entertainment
Film Review: One ‘Vacation’ You Don’t Want to Take
By Kam Williams
For The Skanner News
N
ational Lampoon’s
Vacation is an en-
during film fran-
chise launched back in 1978
by the late John Hughes, the
brains behind such Chica-
go-centric screen classics
as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,
Planes, Trains & Automo-
biles, Home Alone, Uncle
Buck and Baby’s Day Out,
to name a few. The original
Vacation adventure featured
the Griswold family’s very
eventful road trip from the
Windy City to L.A.
This nostalgic seventh in-
stallment not only resurrects
Walley World amusement
park as its destination point,
but has Chevy Chase and
Beverly D’Angelo reprising
their iconic roles as Clark
and Ellen Griswold, respec-
tively. However, the cou-
ple’s been reduced to a cam-
eo appearance in favor of a
plot revolving around their
son Rusty’s (Ed Helms) nu-
clear family.
At the point of departure,
we find Rusty sorely in need
of a break from the rat race
as an overworked pilot for
a budget airline carrier. He
plans to both spice up his
stale marriage and spend
some quality time with his
sons during the drive across
the country. Of course, the
highway gods have other
ideas in mind, as the perils
lying in wait range from
robbery to raw sewage.
My biggest problem with
this relatively-salacious ep-
isode rests in its often-of-
fensive obsession with sex-
uality. For example, when
younger son Kevin (Steele
Stebbins)
asks,
“Dad,
what’s a pedophile?” he is
inappropriately informed,
“It’s when a man and a boy
love each other very much.”
It doesn’t help that the kid
subsequently encounters a
“glory hole” in a rest stop
bathroom ostensibly cruised
by gay men.
There is a homophobic
tone cast over the entire
picture, notably present in
Kevin’s relentless bullying
of his effeminate big broth-
er, James (Skyler Gisondo).
The mean-spirited mistreat-
ment includes teasing his
sibling about “having a va-
gina” and choking him with
a plastic bag.
Even the boy’s father
piles on periodically, like
when he suggests that Kevin
Chevy Chase (second from right) and Beverly D’Angelo (right) reprise their original roles in Vacation, the
seventh outing in the franchise that started in 1978. The new film stars Christina Applegate (left), Ed Helms
(second from left, as grown-up Rusty), Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins.
scratches “like a girl” when
he fights.
Rusty’s wife Debbie
(Christina Applegate) isn’t
much of a role model either,
between overimbibing in
a “Chug Run” during a pit
stop and ‘fessing up about
having developed a bad rep-
utation in college for show-
ing her breasts to anybody
who asked. From full-fron-
tal male nudity to an F-word
laced theme song, Vacation
is a cringe-inducing disap-
pointment that bears little
resemblance to the original
it so desperately endeavors
to pay homage to.
Fair H
Rated R for brief male fron-
tal nudity, sexuality, crude
humor, mature themes and
pervasive profanity
Running time: 99 minutes
Distributor: Warner Broth-
ers Pictures
View movie trailers at
TheSkanner.com
July 29, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 7