National Lampoon’s VACATION became an instant comedy classic in 1983, playing off the then growing popularity of Chevy Chase, and the accessible screenplay by John Hughes. The idea of an awkward family going on an even more awkward trip across the United States resonated with audiences… probably because in some twisted capacity we’ve all been there at some point. The movie spawned three theatrical sequels, which are mostly loved in their own right. In this day of reboots, it seems only fitting (or rather inevitable) that we get a new VACATION.

The film opens (smartly) with Lindsey Buckingham’s classic “Holiday Road” playing while various funny images of families on vacation (courtesy of AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com) flash across the screen. For a brief moment we feel like this may be as funny and magical as the original movie. We’re then introduced to an adult Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms), who is a pilot for an economy airline spending his days taking others on family trips. He arrives home to his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) and two incompatible sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins). We learn that every year Rusty takes them to a cabin as a sort of family getaway, but he’s the only one really enjoying it. In an effort to mix things up a bit and make the whole family happy, Rusty decides to do something his dad attempted so many years ago… take everyone to the family theme park called Wally World. So he picks up a weird foreign car with an odd design (and countless buttons that do unknown things) and they hit the open road in search of happiness. Along the way they stop at Debbie’s old College sorority house, pay a visit to Rusty’s sister Audrey (Leslie Mann) and her perfect husband Stone (Chris Hemsworth), do a little river rafting, and even eventually end up at the new home of Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen Griswold (Beverly D’Angelo). As with the original film, this isn’t really about the final destination so much as it is about the trip to get there.

While there are some hearty laughs in the new VACATION and even a few nods to the original, there’s one major thing lacking in this attempt. The 1983 movie had a certain charm and sincerity to it that helped make it such a relatable and endearing classic. None of that is here. Instead co-writers and directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (who gave us the HORRIBLE BOSSES movies) rely on throw away laughs and gross out humor that just feels like little skits strung together, never even trying to find a connection with the audience beyond making you chuckle. It’s something writer John Hughes and director Harold Ramis understood all too well in the original film, and proves that emulating something famous doesn’t always capture what the source material had.

Ed Helms tries his best to make his Rusty Griswold funny and memorable, but he’s just not inherently likable. Where Chevy Chase had a sort of everyman quality to his Clark, Helms always appears to be a performer falling back on his same old shtick. The actor rose to fame on THE OFFICE, and of course in THE HANGOVER films, but this proves he more often works better as a supporting character than a lead. Christina Applegate attempts to find the right dynamic in playing the mother of the family, essentially playing the straight man to Helms’ shenanigans, and finding a few genuinely amusing moments herself. She’s one of the stronger characters in the film, but also ends up a little underwritten by the end – I wanted to know more about her, what she saw in Rusty to end up marrying him, her motivations to support the crazy actions of her husband, that sort of stuff. Some of the stand out performances come from Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins as the couple’s sons. Skyler plays his role as a sincere and hopelessly romantic young man on the cusp of adulthood, and Steele torments him mercilessly which always gets big laughs. Most of their best scenes are in the first half of the film, but both do a great job in their respective roles.

Chris Hemsworth also finds a fun character in Stone, playing the cocky (pun intended) celebrity weatherman who seems to show up Rusty without even trying. He’s so over the top, I barely remember Leslie Mann’s performance as Audrey in all the scenes they share together. And if you’re looking forward to seeing Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo again, don’t blink as their scenes are rather brief and saved for the wrap up portion of the story. When they show up on screen, I almost thought maybe they could save the entire exercise by perhaps linking up with the family to finish the trip, but instead they give some quick advice and send the brood on their way… kind of a missed opportunity.

While the new VACATION did make me laugh, and pretty heavily in parts, in the end it just feels disposable and forgettable. We’ve seen a film like this recently too with WE’RE THE MILLERS, which succeeded in finding a better chemistry with its characters, even if it borrowed a bit from the original VACATION in its own right. My biggest complaint about reboots is the reasoning behind them to begin with – if you can’t find a way to top or at least match the quality of the original, then why bother?

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