So! Everything is decided and planned. Already packed and packed. And, it seems, – nothing can prevent you from tasting the delights of a well-deserved vacation.
Not so! When the Griswold family gathered for the vacation, the real circus began! The head of the “event,” Clark Griswold, is eager for a peaceful family reunion while traveling across the country on what promises to be a very exciting trip!
But Daddy Griswold’s sweet dreams are not destined to come true: the vacation turns into a roller coaster ride 2,460 miles long! Everyone contributes to the “variety” of the cultural program of the vacation – Uncle Eddie, Aunt Edna, the seductress in the Ferrari and, of course, the obese security guard!
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America first went on ‘vacation’ in 1983. No one could have guessed that a simple and silly comedy, created under the auspices of the organization ‘National Mockingbird’, specializing in eccentric comedy-capoostniki, where stupidity – the basis of the plot, the characters – complete morons, and idiocy in the script is only welcome, suddenly take one of the highest positions in the genre, become a cult, collect a huge box office and get 3 even more successful sequels. How did it happen that the stupidest plot turned out to be a comedy masterpiece for all times? Perhaps the answer lies in the combined forces of America’s leading comedy forces of those years.
The script for the movie was written by the maestro John Hughes himself – the creator of one of the best comedies of all time, ‘Plane, Train, Car’, as well as ‘One House’, ‘In the Wilderness’, ‘Flubber’ and other iconic superhits of the genre. John Hughes’ fantasy is not at all Hemingway-esque texts filled with the drama and tragic characters of his contemporaries. The fantasy of John Hughes is the absence of any limitations in inventing gags – Hughes knows no measure in eccentric comedies, which is why they turn out to be so hysterically funny. The plot of the movie is simple: an ordinary American family (father-mother-son-daughter) goes on vacation to California from Chicago. The ‘road-movie’ style for Hughes is a standard technique, which he used in ‘Plane, Train’, ‘In the Wild’, ‘Just Aliens’, etc.
The very concept of family vacations is simply indispensable for Hughes, practically a through-line subject running through all the tapes of the outstanding comedy writer – and here the two tracks merged. Family vacation on the road across America turned in Hughes in an endless stream of the most idiotic situations, which cause, meanwhile, bursts of laughter. Everything is funny in this movie – every step of hopelessly correct and therefore hopelessly stupid American ordinary people in the face of the Griswald family is accompanied by a hilarious gag. Hise’s light hand sends them into the desert, confronts them with robbers, makes them quarrel and reconcile, drags them through the most uncomfortable and horrible motels in America, slips them a vacation in the company of an angry old woman, a nasty dog and cretinous relatives, puts a dead woman in the car with whom they will have a long and hilarious ride, not knowing where to put it, the head of the family is given a seductive beauty to chase him, and then also entertainment in a recreation park in the company of a fat and very cowardly guard. .. And that’s not all.
Griswalds are funny in their conversations, in their deliberately American behavior, in their ability to get out of desperate situations. Humor in the film is crude, in fact, the film was not the first, but a significant contribution to the conscious transformation of comedy in a series of absurd, stupid, but always effective episodes, salty humor which reached its peak in the films of the Farrelly brothers. Hughes created, in fact, a hymn to stupidity. And he did it masterfully.
The film was directed by Harold Ramis himself – the director of the brilliant ‘Groundhog Day’, who created just before ‘Vacation’ the same stupid and insanely funny comedy ‘The Golf Club’ with the same crude but juicy humor and a lot of heroes-cretins. With Ramis, who has always been not just a skillful director, but also a screenwriter and a subtle businessman with a good sense of the audience, Hughes’ script turned into a colorful, engaging, energetic film that, although it remains pure adult entertainment (unlike the subsequent ‘Vacation’ – family comedies), keeps itself within the bounds of decency and does not allow vulgarity. Judging by this comedy, it was Harold Ramis who was one of the originators of the very recognizable style that characterizes most comedies of the 80s.
The main role was played by one of the best comedians of those years – ‘Chevy Chase’, who was already filmed by Ramis in ‘Golf Club’ and, although he was not a big star before ‘Vacation’, but has already managed to perform a number of roles of charming dumbasses with a smile satisfied with everything in life fool. It is worth a second in the frame to appear in the face of Chase and it is immediately clear – in front of us exemplary American, who honors the American way of life and American family traditions as sacred as the word ‘freedom’. Clark Griswald, however, is the embodiment of the American dream in reverse. In following family traditions, rules of family vacations, in striving to be a proper American and a good father, he reaches the point of madness and arranges such a vacation for his family that the poor people will not be envied. Everything should be according to the instructions of this smug, stubborn, ‘wooden’ American – nothing should ruin the vacation, and even if the vacation is already completely ruined, he will still do as he planned. The main thing – care of the family, and it does not matter that the family in such care does not need!
Chase’s game is often rightly written about – ‘sweet simpleton’. Yes, one of the greatest comedians in history, he made such a role of ‘cute simpletons’, ‘charming fools’, devoid of a sense of proportion and self-preservation. True, in this feature of talent lurked, as it later turned out, its own flaw – perfectly caught in the mood and style of comedies of the 80’s, Chase was incapable of the changes that came in the 90’s, and, unlike other star comedians of that era, more flexible and subtle, straight, superficial, simple as a stick, Chase faded into history along with his famous characters – Clark Griswald, Fletch, and others – and now only occasionally makes an appearance, starring in nostalgic comedies like ‘Mad Money’, which are not very successful now, or in small episodes as a guest star. The fact that his image is embodied though organically, but one-dimensional, on the external drawing, excluding any inner world in the hero or thought. It is just a funny caricature, a tracing of the man, a ‘national mockingbird’.
However, movies like this and Chase’s roles have long been golden classics. In them he is natural, organic, mocking … The ease with which Chase tunes the viewer every time on his wave, soothes the viewer, who is ready to still, as 24 years ago, to laugh at the adventures of this long, neskladnogo, living only the simplest desires, shallow little man.
The role of Clark’s wife played by the wonderful actress Beverly D’Angelo, who in those years could strike anyone with her beauty. In the movie Ramis not just shoots Bev, in many scenes he just admires her. She and Chase make a great couple that lasts through all the sequels. D’Angelo doesn’t break the comedy like Chase, she rather plays the role of an ‘understanding bystander’, she sees her husband’s debilitating behavior, but she can’t stop him. However, in some scenes, she plays along with him quite well.
At the end of the movie appears, finally, and John Candy – another amazing comedian of the 80’s, who created a whole gallery of bright, different and very funny images in classic comedies. Here his role is a complete buffoonery. One big (Candy’s dimensions are not small) gag. The fat, cowardly security guard, who enjoys having fun with the Griswalds, despite their illegal entry into the recreation park, made me laugh more than once. Generally this is a hallmark of many 80’s comedies, and in particular the ‘Vacation’ series – first tier stars in episodes.
Enjoyed and Randy Quaid, though his role here is quite small, and the whole he will show himself only in ‘Christmas Vacation’ – the best movie of the series. And also very happy is the cheerful song of the Griswalds, which has become an iconic song for the whole franchise.
In general, what can we say, we have one of the iconic comedies of the 80’s, a star comedy, created by those thanks to whom the genre flourished in those years. Harold Ramis and John Hughes managed to unobtrusively present to the audience an hour and a half of carelessness, silliness, naivety and really healthy laughter. Go on vacation with the Griswalds. A good vacation is guaranteed!
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (81.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio
English: FLAC 1.0 Mono
English: FLAC 1.0 Mono
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Hong Kong Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German SDH, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian SDH, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin American), Swedish, Thai, Turkish.
