Review #1083: Vegas Vacation.
Cast:
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold), Beverly D'Angelo (Ellen Griswold), Randy Quaid (Cousin Eddie), Ethan Embry (Russell "Rusty" Griswold), Marisol Nichols (Audrey Griswold), Miriam Flynn (Cousin Catherine), Shae D'Lyn (Cousin Vicki), Wayne Newton (Himself), Wallace Shawn (Marty the Blackjack dealer), Juliette Brewer (Cousin Ruby Sue), Sid Caesar (Old Guy), and Siegfried & Roy (Themselves) Directed by Stephen Kessler.
Review:
I couldn't find any time in the review to make a Vegas sports joke/reference, given that they now have a hockey team (and a particularly good one this year), with the timing of this review to their appearance in the Conference Finals against the Winnipeg Jets (a team that I like and follow a bit more than the Golden Knights, although I appreciate both being in the final four) being a coincidence. In any case, enjoy the review and enjoy a good Conference Finals.
Remember the first three films? Although each had a varying quality to them, they managed to be fairly entertaining pieces of entertainment (at least for the first and third ones, in my view), with Chase and D'Angelo being key standouts, especially in National Lampoon's Vacation (#804). This time around, I can't say that is the case. If National Lampoon's European Vacation (#1060) could be cited by me as an average film, Vegas Vacation could be cited as an awful venture that produces the least amount of returns of the four films, which is made fairly obvious by the first half of the film. It is actually strange to see how long it took to make a fourth film that followed after National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (#771), being released eight years later, by which time Chase had already passed 50 and the two Griswold children are replaced again by actors who now look like they could almost be in college. This time around, the National Lampoon moniker has been removed, with the vacation destination being just one place (as evidenced by the title). It is the only Vacation film with a PG rating, as compared to the R rating for the first film and a PG-13 rating for the other two. The humor certainly feels sanitized in some part because of this decision to go for PG, although that doesn't mean that funny films can't come from things rated PG, it just means that this film isn't funny because of its attempts to reach across the aisle for audiences.
At any rate, it is obvious that this film doesn't have much motivation to go on beyond a bunch of weak gags and a few indulgent cameos that actually seem more interesting to watch than the actual film and its plot. When the parts with Wayne Newton and Siegfried & Roy are more interesting to watch than the scenes with the Griswolds, I think you have a big problem. It isn't so much that they don't have much chemistry with each other as a group, it's just that it feels more like a mediocre sitcom kind of family than anything actually really particularly funny, dwelling in cliché levels (particularly involving Las Vegas) that aren't at all surprising. Chase looks tired in his role (grey hair included), not really making the material given to him leap off much, with the greed aspects seeming more stale than anything. D'Angelo does fine, taking her material and rolling with whatever it leads to (ridiculous as it is), whether with Chase or Newton. Quaid's bumpkin role garners a few laughs, but it isn't anything too particularly new or any too funny. Embry and Nichols deliver plain performances, but it isn't anything too particularly annoying at least. The other members of the cast aren't too terrible, but they don't contribute to too many laughs; Caesar (in his final on-screen appearance) shows up near the end of the film, which is slightly amusing in its briefness for his gestures, sad as that may seem. Newton is okay, but sometimes his scenes fall a bit tiresome, in part because the movie doesn't really have much focus besides just throwing a bunch of gags and lines (and a few visuals of Las Vegas) and hoping it sticks with him. Shawn does fine with this brief but scuzzy part, even if the gag (involving Chase who can't stop losing in bets) gets tiresome fairly quickly. Each of the four Griswolds have their own kind of story, and only D'Angelo's feels particularly interesting, cliché as it is.
The components of writing and directing for this film are a bit different than usual, with the film's screenplay was done by Elisa Bell, who had written a few teleplays for TV movies prior to this film, while Bob Ducsay (a long time editor for films such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - #201 and Star Wars: The Last Jedi - #1027) contributed to the story, with Stephen Kessler (in his feature film debut) as director. The blame falls in part to them, but it also falls to people who thought it was a good idea to make a film after eight years with the belief that this would be a huge hit. Instead, the result that came from this movie is a huge dud. Is it horrible? No, but it is a miserable misfire that drags its cast down just as much as it drags the audience down with its attempts at humor. I'm reminded of my actual time spent at Las Vegas a few years ago with my dad, in which I bought a snow-globe that I still have in my house to this day. The brief experience I spent there (including a bad attempt at swimming and staying at a motel) was easily better than the time I spent watching this movie.
Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.
