I love this movie so much

Excellent adaptation.

A lot of fun.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I recently watched this movie again after not having seen it for some twenty-odd years and I was somewhat disappointed. It wasn't as good as I had remembered it being. It wasn't bad, just not that great. Like many people, I first saw it back in the 80's when it first came out. I was in my early teens then and thought it was decent. Now in my forties, I have a much better appreciation for it when I watch it because I have two children of my own and I see much (perhaps a little too much) of myself in the Clark W. Griswold character. I laughed out loud several times at Chevy Chase's portrayal of Clark being "such a dad." I don't know whether or not he had children of his own prior to making this movie, but he really nailed the "typical dad" character. Also, Beverly D'Angelo is the perfect combination of sexy and motherly in her role, and Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron are also terrific in their roles. Randy Quaid, back in his more stable days, gives a rather sane performance as the inimitable Cousin Eddie. There are many outstanding supporting performances in this movie. Having written that, however, I must state that the movie plays out as episodic, like one childhood memory after another strung together. Also, the movie is often silly; it contains elements that would have better left as ideas. For instance, it doesn't really make sense that Clark's old car would be driven straight from him trading it in to being compacted within minutes. It makes for a fairly funny sight gag, but doesn't come across as something that would actually happen. When it comes to ratings, the movie really deserves no more than six out of ten; however, there are so many funny moments and Chevy Chase is so good as Clark, I bump up my rating to seven out of ten.

I remember seeing this film in the theaters as a teenager and finding it a mildly diverting, if not hilarious, road movie comedy. Despite being a box office hit on its release, the reviews were largely mediocre and, reading them in retrospect, fairly on target. With the Ed Helms reboot coming out, I decided to catch it again as an adult, and I must say that the rose-colored glasses of nostalgic sentiment coupled with the gaggle of increasingly dreadful sequels, give the original Vacation a reputation of hilarity that it simply does not live up to. In fact, it has aged badly.The simple story centers on the Griswold family (dad Chevy Chase, mom Beverly D'Angelo and siblings Anthony Michael Hall and Dana Barron) and their disaster plagued cross country road trip to Wally World. Pretty much everyone can relate to family trips, especially from childhood, that went horribly awry, which should give Vacation fertile ground to mine. Unfortunately, it too often misses the mark and ultimately wears out its welcome long before we reach the final destination.On the plus side, the film has a fun postcards opening credits sequence paired with Lindsay Buckingham's rousing Holiday Road. Then it starts to deteriorate. A huge problem rests with the central character of Clark Griswold and the performance by Chase. Anyone is sympathetic with well-intentioned travel plans that blow up due to circumstances beyond one's control (i.e., bad accommodations, car trouble, nasty relatives, unplanned side trips, weather, etc.) and can laugh about them after the fact. Much of this should be the focus of the comedy, but very little of these are exploited in this film. Instead, the film takes the low road and too many of the "comical" moments stem from Clark being a complete imbecile. He makes choices and has reactions that few, if any, sane human beings would. To make matters worse, he is also a rather mean-spirited jerk. We can laugh and be sympathetic with a likable well-meaning guy of average intelligence running into vacation road blocks beyond his control, but it becomes less funny when the guy is actually a fairly unlikable jerk whose foolishness is often the starting point of the problems.Also, a number of the jokes are simply not that funny and the side trips and subplots often seem little more than padding. The film also has its fair share of mean-spiritedness, which sours any good humor. Christie Brinkley makes several appearances as a hottie in a sportscar who keeps ostentatiously flirting with Chase on the road. Overlooking the fact that one cannot fathom why someone who looks like Brinkley would be wasting her time relentlessly trying to seduce a shlub like Clark with his wife sitting in full view in the passenger seat, what kind of jerk would unabashedly leer back with his rather lovely significant other present. This all culminates in a hotel swimming pool sequence that goes no where, other than to allow son Hall to give Chase a reverse father doesn't know best pep talk that rings hollow.A side trip to visit redneck relatives, led by a criminally unfunny Randy Quaid, is fairly laughless and seems present only to pad time and saddle the Griswolds with a hated aunt (Imogene Coca) and her dog. This could have been funny, but the film is so mean-spirited that instead of some great verbal banter between comedy legend Coca and Chase (and company), we instead end up with Chase murdering her dog by tying it to the bumper and dragging it to death and then precipitating Coca's fatal heart attack and then leaving her cadaver on her son's front stoop with a note. Oh the hilarity! This might be understandable if the aunt were a character of great villainy, but other than being mildly unpleasant, she does nothing to generate this level of malevolence towards her. If there is anyone in the audience that can relate to vacation memories like this, then I suggest you move quickly away from them and make for the exits.Chase's performance clumsily lurches between abject stupidity and meanness. D'Angelo, stuck in the stereotypical long-suffering wife straight man role (are there any other kinds in these comedies), acquits herself well despite having so few notes to play. Hall keeps trying to find something to do with his role long after the writers have given up. He has it made compared to Barron, who only gets a few reaction shots and nothing funny. Apparently, women need to play it straight and only guys can be funny. Coca seems game, but she is only on hand for a nasty gag at her expense.By the time the Griswolds do get to Wally World, the viewer is exhausted and not from laughing. The film has long since run out of gas. It has seemed like an endless trip and shortly after departure has ceased to resemble anything like a funny disastrous road trip that friends or family would regale you with. Truly, at least 20 minutes or so could be cut from the film to its benefit. This mediocre film was followed by the even worse European Vacation and Vegas Vacation, and a barely tolerable step up from those with Christmas Vacation.

Cornball family man Clark Griswold (Chase) takes his family on a road-trip from Chicago to Los Angeles, and they run into plenty of bumps and detours along the way. Sets expectations for being a standard goofy comedy typical of its type, and then suddenly amps the crudeness at all the right spots. Cousin Eddie (Quaid) is underused, but we thankfully see much more of him in Christmas VACATION; however, here, we still get other fun supporting characters like Aunt Edna (Coca) who add just the right amount of zest to make this an outstanding full of great lines, fun locations and non-stop laughs. The Lindsey Buckingham soundtrack is both nostalgic and timeless. Followed by European VACATION.***½ (out of four)

This is almost a perfect comedy and I have watched this maybe 20 times. It's not only a very funny movie, but it is the most relatable film ever made. We have all been on these family trips where you are supposed to have fun but instead, everything goes to hell.What is so amazing about this film is Chevy Chase. He actually gives a performance whereas in many of his other movies he just seems bored. I loved Fletch when I was a kid, but you can tell that Chevy tries very little and he is not in his element in this type of action-comedy. Here, he is outstanding.There are so many great scenes in this show: 1) The dead aunt on the roof - 2) The visit to Ellen's cousins, especially the discussion about french kissing (what a horrible image it gives you). Of course, it went way over my head as a kid - 3) The scene in the desert, where Clark nearly croaks from dehydration and many, many more. There are a few rough spots as when the family drives into a black neighborhood. I understood what the filmmakers are trying to do, but it just falls flat. And the main sore point about the dead dog. I laughed at the time, but must admit that I felt a little guilty about it. The scene is played very well by both James Keach and Chevy.So, It is almost perfect but not quite. The ending actually made my stomach turn a little, because I am not a huge fan of rollercoasters. But John Candy is terrific and it is like no other movie performance he has made since then. It was a little far-fetched that Roy Walley does in the end, but what the hell, it's a movie, not real life. If you haven't seen the movie you won't know what I'm talking about, but I doubt there are many that haven't seen this amazing flick.