Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, a grown up Rusty Griswold takes his wife and their two sons on a cross-country road trip to the coolest theme park in America, Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.
Vacation (2015) is a largely by-the-numbers reboot/sequel that recycles the premise and comedic beats of the 1983 original with diminishing returns. The plot is a nearly scene-for-scene structural retread — road trip disasters, dysfunctional family chaos, Walley World finale — offering almost nothing new in conception. The comedy relies heavily on gross-out escalation rather than wit or character. Ed Helms and Christina Applegate are likable but underserved by thin material, and the supporting cast (including cameos from the original film) add little. Cinematography is functional at best, with no visual ambition. Novelty scores a 1 because this is a textbook example of a formulaic sequel that borrows its entire identity from a beloved predecessor without adding a distinctive voice. The ending rehashes the iconic Walley World payoff without the charm of the original. A passable, occasionally funny comedy, but creatively uninspired throughout.