National Lampoon's Vacation

National Lampoon's Vacation is one of those films, like It's a Wonderful Life, that everyone has already seen, and it in no way abuts the horror or camp exploitation genre, so my readers (all three of them) may well wonder why I would bother to write about it. In reply, I must answer that, besides the catchy theme song from Lindsey Buckingham (I at first assumed this was a woman--a weirdly dour music video on YouTube disabused me of this notion, however), the film is so infectiously entertaining and perfect NOT to make mention of it as a cinematic classic (albeit a bourgeois one) would be somewhat remiss. Also, I had a dream of Chevy Chase being unable to shut a car door, so getting up and watching it is the only thing that seemed to make sense. (Note: I do most everything, make artistic choices, and consume intellectual fodder based around dreams, almost exclusively; or, at the very least, vague intuitions.)

Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) is a quintessential American Asshole--he's a nerdy, happy-go-lucky, positivity rocks optimist with a degree in Dorkdom, and he's eternally beset by the "slings and arrows" Shakespeare warned us all about. He's taking the family (Beverly D'Angelo, Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron) out to a Disneyesque cartoon-themed family fun park called "Wally World" (owned by Disney approximation "Roy Wally"); he's driving them cross-country from Chicago to California in a beat-up station wagon (the car Clark wants for his trade-in gets crushed and turned into a cube).

Along the "Holiday Road," Clark, and his hostages to fortune, face a continual stream of bad times: dead dogs that were living when they were tied to the bumper and forgotten, dead relatives tied to the roof of the car, and the repellent Cousin Eddie. (Randy Quaid as everyone's familiar white trash relative who wants to know if you could "spare a few bucks just to get me through.") Also, he has an off-road wreck while in the middle of the desert. Along the way, Christie Brinkley, as the phantom driver of a hot sports car, becomes a kind of erotic fixation for Clark, who notices her existence while dragging his family to see the "single largest mud dwelling ever constructed."

Clark keeps grinding the organ of "fun, fun, fun" while his long-suffering wife and kids grow increasingly alarmed at the bad smell, lousy food, and general lack of anything remotely resembling a good time on their vacation road trip. If getting there is half the fun of course, once they finally arrive at the much-fabled land of Roy Wally entertainment, they are in for a colossal let-down. No matter, Clark, the "Can-do" American Dad, just does what any self-respecting suburban father would do in a similar situation. (And I'll leave it at that, just in the off-chance anyone reading this review actually HASN'T seen Vacation.)

Performances are adequate to excellent--and Chase exemplifies his role as Griswold. We also have turns from Eugene Levy and the late, lamented John Candy, as a bumbling, obese rent-a-cop who gets shot in the ass with a pellet gun and vomits on a roller coaster. Imogene Coca is the crabby, cantankerous Aunt Edna, who comes to an ironic, black comedy end, and both Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron are convincing as the Griswold kids, a couple of wiseacre modern snots who roll their eyes and know better than Dad, who has turned the cross-country family vacation into a grimly-determined death trip to meet an ideal that only Clark can see.

But, unlike the vast majority of underwhelming iconic sights Clark wants to take in as exemplifying his idea of experiencing America close-up, first hand, and personal, everyone on Earth over the age of fifteen has already seen Vacation at least once in their life. Its jokes are a little racy, its satire a little corny, and its gags perhaps dated (and, today, somewhat mildly offensive in some instances). However, on the whole, it's worth loading up the station wagon for, whether you're on the "holiday road," or just trying to find the next exit.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) Official Trailer - Chevy Chase Comedy Movie HD

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