Family Ties Vacation (1985)

Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely Brilliant!

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Imagine if you took a cartoon and put it in the "real world." You know how awkward that is?That's what it felt like watching this thing. It's really bad. The hammy schtick and jokes, which work brilliant in three camera is a disaster here. Mostly because a lot of their jokes work in 2- shots. The cut to reaction seems so weird in a single camera. I see that it's trying to be some type of Cary Grant American in Europe comedy feel, but it just didn't fit. They could've named it "Monty Python Meets The Keatons."What makes this movie a shame, isn't that the material is so blatantly ripped from their own sit- com, it's that you expect these things at the END of a series run, not at the beginning.One last thing, if you're determined to watch it, ask yourself this "What the hell is Jennifer doing the entire time?" If you can find a purpose for her being their (story/plot wise) please tell me.

I notice that one reviewer here feels like this TV-movie-of-the-week was not worthy of the series and he also mentions that it's downright silly at times.I agree with him that the show displays better humor and that this movie is a bit on the silly side. The bumbling spies look especially silly and some of the Keatons look like they're completely different characters here than on the show. Steven, Elyse and Mallory act a lot differently here than we're used to on the show and Jennifer has nothing to do here. The one character who's instantly recognizable is Alex and he carries the movie as far as it can go. The scenes at Oxford university are decent and Alex's inability to blend in with the English crowd is pretty funny at times.I recently read Michael J. Fox's "Lucky Man" and there he comments on this film. He doesn't think too highly of it and mentions the fact that it was incredibly rushed.But for a fan of the show I doubt that person will be bored to death. This film is sporadically funny, a bit too silly but for a TV movie of the week I think it's overall decent enough. For a fan of the show that is.

I haven't seen this for quite some time but I do recall that this TV movie (the Keatons travelling to London) - released at the height of the show's popularity - was considered a disappointment.The film was not only frivolous but downright silly at times, especially with some nonsensical plot about the Keatons accidentally carrying some 'spy film' (located in a hair brush iirc) that had the London authorities chasing after them.The real letdown was that it didn't accurately convey the strongest features about 'Family Ties'; not just the humour and memorable characters like Alex P Keaton, but the intelligence and sophistication that the show displayed in its best episodes.That this effectively felt like a 'dumbed down' version of the show was a real waste, and not a worthy reflection of the TV series.