National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Where the first one had an element of natural charm to it and had really inventive humorous ideas to offer the viewer, and overall felt like a well-rounded film where the viewer is connected enough he wants to see more, this one even with an effort to indulge is merely a majorly superficial commercial sequel, with unfunny stereotypical European caricatures lined up on the cheesy comedy conveyor belt, and one easily finds himself wondering what he's doing at that very moment when it's been more than an hour of the same old blatant thick humor on display, disconnected and disinterested with what happens next, hoping for something good to finally occur, but just more of the same.There was so much to explore comedy-wise between the National Lampoon humor with Chevy Chase and co., and the concept of a European vacation. Instead, the girl who whines the whole way about her boyfriend which never amounts to anything in the end, the uncharacteristic events to force a way out...Nah. No good.

In 1983, "National Lampoon's Vacation" was commercial success. The slapstick comical elements marked a positive outlook on the Griswolds as they became America's most beloved dysfunctional family. So instead of resting on their laurels for at least three or four years for a possible sequel, Warner Brothers decided to bring them back to the screen two years too early with "National Lampoon's European Vacation". After winning a game show hosted by John Astin ("Addams Family's Gomez Addams), the Griswolds win a trip to Europe as they embark on several misadventures as the explore the vast landscapes and the cultural settings for them. Sure like the other "Vacation" series, the plot is very thin, but the story itself was very inferior to its predecessor and the laughs were blatantly pedestrian and aside from that the characters also felt jilted as they went from the typical unlucky family to just plain old American idiots that give the wrong impression that Americans are ignorant to European culture. It didn't help that all the performers returned for the sequel, as Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo return as Clark and Ellen Griswold, however when Anthony Michael Hall was asked to reprise his Rusty Griswold character, he rebuffed and chose to do the 1980's cult classic "Weird Science". They didn't bother asking Dana Barron if she wants to reprise the Audrey Griswold character. They hired new performers for the kids. Jason Lively was not very good in his role as Rusty as he comes across as goofy, awkward and over-the-top with his perverted ways which comes off more stupid than comical. Dana Hill was a better replacement for Audrey than Dana Barron because there is more depth to her character in spite of repetitively lamenting over abandoning her new boyfriend, Jack (William Zabka). Chase goes a bit beyond the role of Clark here as the somewhat easily disgruntled father, here as Clark he comes across as a complete moron who can't do anything right and seems to cause destruction towards everything he touches and everyone around him feels his wrath. D'Angelo meanwhile stays persistent and didn't change that much in the movie as the level-headed matriarch trying to keep Sparky and the kids from insanity. Eric Idle as talented as he is for comedy has a very thankless role as an unfortunate Englishman that the Griswolds keep running over. It's never explained how he always runs into them in England, France and Italy, the irony itself is quite disturbing. What hurt this film badly was that comedy director the late Harold Ramis was too busy starring in "Ghostbusters" that he wasn't reached to direct. So instead Amy Heckerling who was still living on the coattails of the cult classic "Fast times at Ridgemont High" took over the director's chair. Heckerling's flair of comedy seems more concrete, which sadly takes over from the craziness from the over "Vacation" films. The fantasy sequences in the film work pretty good, however, I too felt it was inspired by other bodies of work Heckerling has done before or some other project she had in mind.I'm not playing the blame game entirely on Miss Heckerling as John Hughes returns to the scene as the scriptwriter, however I think there was some dispute that erupted as Mr. Hughes must have walked out at some point because there are a lot of surreal slapstick moments that doesn't feel like the John Hughes films we're all familiar with. The first "Vacation" film was funny because the situations faced by the Griswolds are something we could get the gist of. The humour delivered here comes off clichéd, and borderline tasteless. The silliness can be quite cringing with its racist overtones that the humour can be very disturbing at times. Are British people always this nice and genteel all the time? Are the French always dismissive and rude? Are Germans always aggressive and stiff? The scenes that made me laugh are scenes that had similarities to the ones from "Vacation". When the Griswalds interact among themselves the comedy comes across nicely. But when they're interacting with foreign policies it's actually poorly executed. The ending of this film was too rushed and also quite uninteresting you would miss the ending even if it came out to bite you. Aside from that I thought that this movie deserved an R rating rather than a PG-13. There's a lot of swearing, nudity and a myriad of hedonistic scenes that go beyond a PG-13 film. Several of the swearing was dubbed to avoid it from being an R rated movie, just in case you invite the young kiddies to see this film. Better yet, avoid the kids from seeing this movie and rent "Christmas Vacation" instead. There's foul language, but very minimal and used for more comic effect. I was a bit appalled that the family's last name was Griswald in this movie instead of the normal spelling Griswold. It wasn't the downfall for Miss Heckerling as she went on to direct the 1989 film "Look Who's Talking" while that same year Chase, D'Angelo and Hughes collaborated to make the far superior "Christmas Vacation". Even though this movie wasn't the best addition to the Vacation series it wasn't a complete failure and if you could refrain from taking this film seriously or offensively, it can be quite enjoyable.

There is not one single laugh. I'm not kidding or exaggerating. It's sad to know that this was written by John Hughes and directed by Amy Heckerling. They can't all be gems. The Griswalds win an European vacation from a wacky game show. This sets the family off on a series of scatter shot attempt at comedy. Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo return with newcomers Dana Hill and Jason Lively as their kids.It starts off badly in Britain where Clark keeps driving into everything. I don't understand the joke where every driver is super nice after getting hit by Clark. Are the British stereotypical nice drivers? Eric Idle comes the closest to an actual laugh. The problem is all the previous car crashes dissipates any comedy coming from Idle being so nice. And I don't understand why the Griswalds would run into him again. It's just stupid.The only thing that comes close to being watchable is the last part where the Griswalds tangle with some bad guys. At least they get some action in. It's not funny, but at least there's some fun in some fun locations.

A Sequel to the very enjoyable Vacation, 'European Vacation' turns out to be a good sequel, offering slap-stick humor & non-sense all through. Don't look for logic in here!'European Vacation' Synopsis: The Griswalds win a vacation tour across Europe where the usual havoc ensues.'European Vacation' gets it right, as the humor works. Sure, it makes no sense, but again, slap-stick comedies are not meant to be taken seriously. Screenplay by John Hughes & Robert Klane is funny, offering aplenty of ridiculously moments in the goings-on. Amy Heckerling's Direction is ordinary. The Cinematography captures the exotic locales of Europe perfectly. Performance-Wise: Chevy Chase leads the film with a winning performance. He's in complete form. Beverly D'Angelo is spunky. Dana Hill & Jason Lively are okay. John Astin is passable. On the whole, 'European Vacation' does work.