Director: Harold Ramis
Release Date: 1983
Genre: Family/Comedy
Running Time: 1hr 38 minutes
Rating: R
Synopsis:
The Griswolds are at it again, this time they have planned a great Summer vacation, or have they? This time on their way to Wally World Fun Park in California, everything has been planned perfectly...apart from you know a few...minor distractions.
Secondly, do you wanna know something that I seriously never really knew? Harold Ramis star of "Ghostbusters" directed this beauty of a movie! He's clearly a talented actor and a director, because this movie is fantastic, full of fun and humour! This is a great family film, it's one of those movies, that you can have on in the background, watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon or purely snuggle up on the sofa and watch with your loved ones! They don't make movies like this anymore and to be honest that's probably why they go down as classic 80's movies!
One of the things I love about this movie is how stupid it is, don't get me wrong, this isn't an awful movie, it's supposed to be stupid, the characters are mad as box of cats and they all work perfectly together! Clark (Chevy Chase) is obsessed with doing everything by the book, nothing is ever simple with him, you've got his wife (Ellen), she's a good mum, and sometimes she gives in to Clark one too many times, before she's had enough. Then of course you've got Eddie (Randy Quaid) Ellen's cousin's husband, sorry, but of a mouthful there, honestly he's just the best character in this movie, some of the lines he comes out with are absolutely hilarious! Don't go expecting Oscar winning performances, it's supposed to be a bit of fun and that's comes out through their performances. There are some more great characters in this movie, I'm not going to discuss them, purely because I don't want to ruin it for you!
Harold Ramis has done a fantastic job directing, this is honestly a very very funny movie, and not to mention a fantastic screenplay from John Hughes who also wrote the likes of "Home Alone" and "Miracle on 34th Street", so we've automatically got a fantastic writer here! A lot of movies can be let down, purely because of the script, some are just shockingly awful and boring and ruin the whole movie! This film does have a brilliant script, and I guarantee some moments will make you laugh out loud...rollercoaster scene.
The set design is pretty typical 80's, good old 80's fashion (it's definitely made a comeback, that's for sure), we see some gorgeous shots of Mississippi, Kansas, Arizona and of course California. Wally World it absolutely fantastic, I mean who doesn't love a great theme park? Overall the cinematography is really good, there's a few editing issues that I've noticed personally, particularly with the soundtrack, instead of fading a song out, just sort of cutting it off, to the point it sounds like someone shutting off a stereo mid song, as apposed to a nice fade.It's shot very well though, it's a simple film, but it's still very enjoyable.
The best thing about the National Lampoon movies are the classic soundtracks, it's a fun score with the likes of The Ramones, Lindsey Buckingham and The Pointer Sisters. There isn't a great deal I can say about this movie really, apart from it's a classic family film, and the National Lampoon movies are fantastic, seeing as we are close to December, I highly, highly recommend giving "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation" a go. If you just want a bit of fun, this is the perfect movie for you!
5/5 stars
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