Good concept, poorly executed.

Best movie ever!

Am I Missing Something?

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The final installment to the Griswald family's madcap misadventures, they're just as funny as the other three outrageous film before this one, as Clark, Ellen, Audrey and Rusty are out to stir trouble for themselves and everyone else surrounding them only this time the stakes are higher in the 1997 film "Vegas Vacation." The laughs are gut- bursting, and the hot Nevada desert is the perfect resort to capture just how zany and outrageous the Griswalds can be. Sure it's good to watch one in a blue moon, after seeing the same gags over and over again, it does loses its flavour like a piece of chewing gum and you can easily become bored after a while. The film is truly a follow-up to "Christmas Vacation" as Clark finally got his big bonus from his marketing business after his newly invented cereal bars are a success and decides to use his money to his advantage and brings his wife and kids with him where they'll go on a frenzy gambling and living the life on Easy Street. During their stay, the Griswalds venture on their own to see what fortune comes their way. Such scenes involves legendary crooner Wayne Newton trying to get it on with Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo). Clark and the kids have their moments as well. Sure the Griswald family follow the same path as the other three installments, but that's because of their inept ways of life, they have managed to make us laugh. We all come to see them struggle, fail and try to move up only to still remain left behind, but we love them for that and that is what keeps their fans from coming into theatres for. We were all shocked to see Clark as he dangles off Hoover Dam and crashing through Wayne Newton's house with the van.The movie is very rich because the film is unpredictable. You think that they slowed the tempo down in "Christmas Vacation", but think again, the falls, the slapstick humour is still effective as we await for every gag to takes its shape and every way for the Griswalds to bend it. The laughs continue and never gets bored the first time seeing it at least, but after multiple viewing it loses its flavour like chewing gum. Clark and the gang had their moments of laugh-till-your-stomach- bursts moments, however, the funniest scenes will involve the funniest supporting player to the Griswold clan. I'm talking about Randy Quaid's Cousin Eddie. From the first and third installments (he wasn't in "European Vacation"), he was always a dynamic character and the reason why is that even though he's dumber than rocks, his heart is in the right place and looks out for Clark even in the the most dire situations. But his redneck ways and caring charm puts a light touch to someone's heart. This film isn't without its weaknesses. For one thing if you seen the other three Griswald adventures you seen them all. The madcap over- the-top slapstick humour has been done many times before and many times better. Even the dialogue and the facial expressions have all been executed in the very same pattern. But hey, what do I expect this film was going to be, a life-changing drama? Hell, no this is "National Lampoon" baby, so the film should be about overdosing in slapstick comedy so why spoil a good thing.Another fault is why was Wayne Newton playing a pivotal part in the film. Sure he's a respective singer and I would have been okay if he played a cameo role in the film. But as a supporting character, he was just plain awful. He was just playing himself, a sleazy Vegas singer who had the hots for Ellen.Usually in the other three films I laughed with the family, but in "Vegas Vacation", I couldn't help but feel sorry for them, especially from the kids (who looked too old to play the parts of Audrey and Rusty). The lack of chemistry is missing in this film because the kids and the parents seem to go their own separate ways. I thought it angered me that Clark kept forgetting his daughter's name most of the time (making her feel like the black sheep of the family a la Meg Griffin from "Family Guy"). I also felt that there was a lot of parental negligence as the kids Audrey and Rusty found themselves in dangerous predicaments. It was also very angering that Clark spent over $23,000 of his bonus money on gambling when he should have done as he promised in "Christmas Vacation" was to install a swimming pool. It made me think where's social services when you need them feeling I got. Surely a family could not have been this dysfunctional. But though it all it still succeeds in providing you with non-stop gags and having you laughing the whole way through. Overall this movie is by far a terrible movie. The laughs are plentiful and you'll surely have a good time and Randy Quaid was wonderful as Cousin Eddie. I would recommend it as a comedy and really nothing more than that.

This is the forth and last movie about Griswalds. Well , at least until the new remake of "Vacation" doesn't show up. It doesn't have the National Lampoons title , but it is the sequel to previous three movies. It was directed by Stephen Kessler. What is more important is that John Hughes (writer of all three movies) isn't the writer of this one. "Vegas vacation" was written by Elisa Bell and Bob Ducsay.It's hard to find a good third movie in the series , much less forth. It's also a risk to make a sequel to an 80's movie . Many of the sequels to 80's movies fails , because they aren't able to capture that specific 80's magic of the original ("Another 48 hours" , "Beverly Hills cop 3", "Blues brothers 2000" for example). Griswalds didn't really needed another sequel , since the third one was really good . So who needed it ? Chevy Chase . After the 1989 he wasn't able to make a successful movie and this was his last attempt to become a major star once more .In the end it's a movie that should have been made as straight to video flick . It is so bad , that it's worse than "European vacation" . At least I had few laughs with that bad movie , with this one I had none."Vegas" lacks freshness . The writers tried to keep "Vegas vacation" in style of previous movies , but failed terribly. None of the usual Griswald charm is here . The jokes fell incredibly forced and don't work. Only SOME of the jokes with cousin Eddie APPROACH being funny (which doesn't mean they are , mind you). The franchise had simple , but funny , slightly raunchy sense of humor . This one is boring and bland like most of US sitcoms. It feels more like a commercial for Las Vegas than a comedy.The old cast is back – Chevy Chase , Beverly D'Angelo and Randy Quaid. The kids has been recast again . Ethan Embry plays Rusty and Marisol Nichols plays Audrey. I have to say they are my least favorite couple from the whole series. They give very flat performances.National Lampoon took their name off the title of this film. It's hard not to understand why. Surprisingly, "Vegas Vacation" was fairly successful at the box office, taking in almost $40 million (the budget mus have been low for this movie) Which meant there was yet another chapter in the saga, the even worse than this "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2- Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure". Oh , boy...My advice ? Stick to the first and third one , avoid the rest. I give it 1/10.

Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Ethan Embry, Marisol Nichols and Wayne Newton star in this 1997 comedy sequel. In this installment, Clark Griswold (Chase) takes his wife, Ellen (D'Angelo) and 2 kids, Rusty (Embry) and Audrey (Nichols) to Las Vegas, Nevada for a family trip. Clark runs into cousin Eddie (Quaid) while getting there and has bad luck. Newton plays himself who falls in love with Ellen and Clark starts getting himself addicted to gambling causing him to lose most of his money and his family starts going their separate ways. Soon, Clark tries to redeem himself and get his family back together. This is a pretty good, but long-waited sequel, Chevy is great as usual and I recommend this.

Well, Clark Griswold has so far botched a road trip, a European vacation and (most memorably) a Christmas vacation; so why does he continue to make his family go through hell on his endless quest for a fun vacation? That's easy; it's pretty enjoyable for us to watch :)"Vegas Vacation" sits comfortably as the third most enjoyable film in the series; surpassing "European Vacation" but not as enjoyable as "Vacation" or "Christmas Vacation". It's pretty far reaching at times but there are solid moments here; such as Clark damn near destroying a damn and getting crazy (as only Clark Griswold can) playing cards and losing everything.The Wayne Newton gag soon grows tiresome and everything concerning Audrey and Russ pretty much stinks but Randy Quaid delivers once again as obnoxious Cousin Eddie and Chase hasn't lost his touch as the world's most annoying (yet somehow oddly endearing) family dad.