National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

I'll tell you why so serious

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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.

The problem with sequels, they mostly disappoint. Not really so with this one. Yes the first was classic, funny, and hard to beat, with a whole lot of reality hidden under Clark's escapades and misadventures. Much the reality that we can relate to was the beauty of that film. What works here, of course not scoring as many laughs as the original, is the change of location, or should say the change of locations, as The Griswalds win a trip to Europe, all by accidentally winning a round on a game show, up against a real genius, and unbeatable family, up until now. Even though this has been dissed, I never had a problem with this one where again, there's a lot of reality here, we can relate too, when going away, one especially, involving running up a phone bill. Here of course, Clark creates chaos and misunderstanding as remember, he's in Europe. They even visit the wrong address of relatives, who of course, are strangers to these wild family on the account of a half veiled address number. Another misunderstanding which resulted in a chase was the German dancing. Oh did I forget, they visited Germany as well. We have different actors replace Rusty and Audrey, as in all the Vacation series, and there are a few cameos from some English greats. I thought the bit with poor bicycle rider Idle was sick though, on the account of the 'wrist squirting blood' moments. The writer or writers here have really honed in on picking out funny happenings and situations, where for me this was a potpouri of laughs from a potpouri of laughs from a potpouri of cities, which made this one work. Even on return, the Griswalds cause the plane to knock the statue of liberty off.

Stick with the Christmas one and you'll be all right. This one was atrocious. Unimaginative, boring, repetitive, predictable. Chase is in good form as always, but there's little he can do with such a dumb script. Same for the wife. The son is just passable and the girl who plays the daughter... oh my dear lord.. I have never seen such an off- putting creature in my life. She looks like a pig, especially when seen from the side.The only thing I liked was the film's comparison of Americans with swine. (In the beginning of the film, the Griswold's are encouraged by a TV audience to "be a pig.") I suppose that's why they casted that disgusting thing as the daughter, who is supposed to be playing a teenager but looks like she's nearly forty. They also did a good job of showing the utter ignorance and degeneration of American parents, even back in '85: in a beginning scene, the piglet daughter's boyfriend is over and they're down each other's throats in front of the parents. What kind of a emasculated little moron of a "father" allows his teenage piglet this behaviour?An American one, I guess.

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.