Film

The new ‘Vacation’ is a poor addition to the series

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A new crew of Griswolds embark on yet another Walley World trip in Vacation.

Two stars

Vacation Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo. Directed by Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley. Rated R. Now playing.

The original Vacation movies were inspired by writer John Hughes’ own family vacation experiences, and they had a genuine warmth underneath their sometimes crass comedy. None of that is evident in the new franchise sequel/reboot, simply titled Vacation, which recycles the basic plot of 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation, replacing previous Griswold family patriarch Clark (Chevy Chase) with his son Rusty (Ed Helms), now grown up with a wife and two kids. Like his father, Rusty is a hapless but well-intentioned dad who just wants to show his family a good time by taking them on a road trip from their home in Chicago to the California theme park Walley World.

Screenwriters Jonathan M. Goldstein and John Francis Daley, whose credits include the Horrible Bosses movies and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, make an inauspicious directorial debut, relying heavily on nasty gross-out humor and turning Rusty and his family into unappealing idiots. There’s a half-hearted effort to wring some emotion from mild troubles in Rusty’s marriage to Debbie (Christina Applegate), but it’s superficial at best, and sits uncomfortably next to the mostly mean-spirited humor (especially the characterization of the couple’s sociopathic younger son).

Chase and Beverly D’Angelo briefly reprise their roles as Rusty’s parents, and there are numerous callbacks to the previous movies (primarily the first one). That only highlights how empty and cynical this new movie is, a series of belabored, poorly executed jokes that amount to a sad re-creation of a once-beloved comedy franchise.

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