'Vacation' Movie Review: The Griswolds Are Back!

— -- Starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate

Rated R

Three out of five stars

There’s only one "Vacation." OK, there have actually been four theatrically-released "Vacation" movies and as of now, five.

This reboot stars Ed Helms as Rusty Griswold, the son of Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold, who’s grown up to be a pilot for a discount airline. He’s an underachiever in both his professional and personal life. When Rusty overhears his wife, Debbie (Christina Applegate), complain to a friend about the vacation cabin they’ve been going to for years in Michigan, he decides it’s time to re-live his own epic family vacation to the theme park Walley World! And like the 1983 original "Vacation" movie, they get there via a road trip meant to be an opportunity for family bonding, but which turns out to be the family road trip from hell. Only funny.

There are a few major differences between the original Griswold trip to Walley World and this updated version — most notably, this version is dirtier, raunchier and considerably more offensive, if you’re easily offended. Another difference: Rusty and Debbie have two boys, not a son and a daughter. In fact, some of the biggest laughs in the movie are derived from the relationship between Griswold sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins). In this case, it’s younger brother Kevin who constantly bullies his much older and bigger brother. Kevin’s name-calling and swearing is a bit of a cheap laugh, but it works.

Chris Hemsworth also scores laughs as Rusty’s politically conservative, cattle-loving, comically well-endowed brother-in-law. Unfortunately, Leslie Mann, as Rusty’s sister, is completely underutilized.

Writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley (better known as Dr. Lance Sweets from TV’s "Bones") have no fear, which is both a strength and a weakness here. Their desire to push the envelope sometimes feels desperate, and when it doesn’t work it’s just shocking, instead of shocking and funny. There are a few pedophilia and rape jokes here that just were not necessary.

Helms is fine as well-meaning doofus Rusty but his performance, though solid, isn’t destined to be classic. True, few performances are, but since Helms is choosing to participate in an update of a classic film, the comparisons to the original are both inevitable and fair.

"Vacation" isn’t a waste of your time or money, because you will laugh. You just won’t be talking about it next week — which says something, since we’ve been talking about the original "Vacation" for more than 30 years.