Vacation (2015)

Directed by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley. Starring Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Catherine Missal, Charlie Day, Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Ron Livingston, Keegan-Michael Key, Regina Hall, Elizabeth Gillies. [R]

Reboot of the Vacation franchise centers on the now-grown Griswold son, Rusty (Ed Helms), married and with two kids of his own, who decides to take the family on a road trip to Walley World like the one from his childhood. A mixed bag, but not entirely disagreeable, leaning heavier into raunchy/vulgar territory than ever before in the series, with too many telegraphed punchlines, odd echoes of We’re the Millers, and a shortage of gut-busters (begging the question that no one imagined would ever be asked: where’s Randy Quaid when you need him?). Much like the running joke of the farcical minivan they take on the trip (a Tartan Prancer, the “Honda of Albania”), it starts amusing but grows stale as it rambles on, straining for laughs that aren’t there. Chase and D’Angelo are given little to do reprising their roles toward the end as the elder Griswolds. Colin Hanks and Norman Reedus appear briefly; Tim Heidecker, Nick Kroll, Kaitlin Olson, and Michael Peña all cameo as cops from different states converging at the Four Corners Monument.

46/100