Not a good movie, and here's why...


National Lampoon's European Vacation is simply not a good movie. It's biggest flaws lie in the writing, the acting, and the directing, things that pretty much make up a movie. The script is terrible. Hard to believe it was co-written by John Hughes, but then he wrote crap like Home Alone 3 and Flubber, so he was not without fault. There's really no story to this one, and what makes it differ from the other Vacation movies is that this one has no story goal. In the first movie, it was getting to Walley World. In Christmas Vacation, it was all about having the perfect family Christmas. In Vegas Vacation, all about Clark and Ellen rekindling their marriage. Though times got tough and many obstacles got in their way, the Griswolds overcame and Clark achieved what he'd set out to do. In European Vacation, it's just the family going to several countries with small side stories that accompany them. Then at the end they go home. No real goal there. Just seeing Europe. It's like a scripted documentary that they TRIED adding comedy too. Speaking of which, there's no comedy to be found. The script has dozens of jokes, but they're not funny! Seriously, this movie is NOT funny in the least. Even if a line sounds funny, the actor's delivery makes it sound bad. Even Eric Idle, hilarious as he is on Monty Python and his many other works, is not funny here. His performance seems forced, as if he hates what he's saying and doing but knows he has a contract to honor.
The gags suck. Just forced, over-done, and stupid.
Republic of Griswold and voting on things: not funny.
"She queens...and vacuums." Not funny.
That constant hitting people with the car: not funny.
The scene on the train: not funny.
Just any of these moments in the film meant to be funny are NOT funny.
The clothes they end up choosing in Italy: not funny, they just look ridiculous, plus why don't they wear these clothes again for the rest of the film? What a waste of a perfectly good song and scene.


In short, this script seems like it was written by people who dislike Europeans and set out to insult them for no foreseeable reason. Maybe John Hughes and the National Lampoon team visited France and Germany and people there were rude to them, so to get back at the people in those countries, they wrote this movie.
It relies on stereotypes. The English are overly nice, the French are overly rude, Germans are overly violent... Stereotypical, pure and simple.
What if this were National Lampoon's Asian Vacation? They'd probably have everybody in the movie be a Martial artist. I'm surprised that they didn't make Germany full of Nazis.

Amy Heckerling did a poor job of directing. Why couldn't they get back Harold Ramis? She seems to have an obsession with showing breasts, and going out of the way to do so. At least in the first Vacation it was at appropriate times. (Shower, pool).
The actors seemed to have difficulty with what they had and couldn't make it work, mainly because the director couldn't.

Now, the acting is horrible. Seriously, nobody is good in this movie. Not even Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo, who are familiar with their characters, unlike the kids, but I'll get to them shortly. Were they told to ignore the development from the first film and make them behave a certain way here? I think that's what happened, because Clark in this film was quite different than in the last one. In European Vacation, Clark Griswold comes off as a selfish, inconsiderate boob who treats his family horribly. He forces them to do what HE wants. He doesn't care if they don't want to, because it's apparently all about what Clark wants. I realize this is the only vacation in the series he doesn't pay for, but still that's no excuse. If I were unfamiliar with this series of movies and just saw this one, I'd assume Clark was abusive. Yes, he acts like a nutjob in the other films, but there it's funny. Here, it's not. It's down played to a certain degree of just being mean.
In the first movie he was incompetent and selfish, sure, but he seemed to care more about what his family wanted. Plus, if you remember, he called Rusty a man. In European Vacation, he says, "you're not a man, Russ." What happened there? You're supposed to root for him too. You want him to achieve his goal. Not here. Even if he had a goal, you'd still want those Germans to hang him.

But the worst acting in the whole film comes from the worst actors in the whole film (goes without saying). The kids. Jason Lively and Dana Hill were horrible. Just awful. They were just not believeable in these roles. The kids in the first film, and in the other two, I could believe they were a part of this family. Not here. Plus all Rusty and Audrey do is WHINE and COMPLAIN *NON-STOP* throughout the ENTIRE movie. It gets OLD very fast! At NO point could they just try to enjoy themselves. At no point. Just ENDLESS WHINING.
They're terrible actors, both of them. Just what sort of time constraints were they under when casting these roles? Did they have to find two actors in under an hour? I hope the casting director was kicked out of the business.

The only real highlight of the movie is the soundtrack. "New Looks" by Dr. John is terrific.


Bottom line: National Lampoon's European Vacation is bad. Bad writing, bad acting, bad directing. It's just a really dull, unpleasant movie. I'd just pretend it doesn't exist and watch the other three films. Maybe that's why they made Rusty and Audrey younger in Christmas Vacation, because they didn't want another round of griping teenagers.

My opinions.

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[deleted]

I think they all did.

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Seriously about the kids.

I was gonna kill myself if I had to hear about her boyfriend & hwo she'll die if she doesn't see him.

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It's not just the Europeans who suffer, they also made the Americans look like dumbasses!

The past doesn't exist and the future is only an illusion.

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That's right. This movie insults everybody.

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I agree about the whiny kids. In the first movie, it seems they try to enjoy the trip to the best of the their ability, it's usually Clark's idiocy which wrecks their enjoyment. In this movie they're just out to have a bad time. Neither one of them wants to hang with the parents or even try to enjoy the cool places they're visiting. I realize that kids do that in real life but it's just annoying. Contrast to the kids in Vegas Vacation, a poor movie but the kids actually have some fun and the least offensive part of the movie.

Although the line you mention "You're not a man, Russ" isn't it actually "You're not a man, Russ ... you're a Griswold" which is not meant to belittle Rusty so much as just Clark being oblivious to the fact that he just dissed his own family name?

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In Europran and Vegas Vacations, Russ was a walking hormone and only though of girls and wanted nothing to do with the family.

BUT in the 1st Vacation and Christmas he was a down-to-earth level headed guy and seemed to want to be around the family and really liked his dad.

The past doesn't exist and the future is only an illusion.

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"Although the line you mention "You're not a man, Russ" isn't it actually "You're not a man, Russ ... you're a Griswold" which is not meant to belittle Rusty so much as just Clark being oblivious to the fact that he just dissed his own family name?"

Nope. Clark's line to Rusty, in response to his asking why he isn't being treated like a man, is exactly "because you're not a man, Russ."

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I didn't read your whole post because it was too long and whiny, just thought I'd point out that Clark was wearing the suit from the Italian shop on the airplane back home, so that's one less thing for you to complain about.

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"I didn't read your whole post because it was too long and whiny, just thought I'd point out that Clark was wearing the suit from the Italian shop on the airplane back home, so that's one less thing for you to complain about."

Why were you born?

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"I didn't read your whole post because it was too long and whiny, just thought I'd point out that Clark was wearing the suit from the Italian shop on the airplane back home, so that's one less thing for you to complain about."

Why were you born?
Jeez! Take it easy man!

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Haha!

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This used to be my least favorite of the Vacation movies until after I had traveled to Europe a couple of times. It's still not the best, but I can relate to many of their encounters.
On my first trip I went as a College student on a tour with a bunch of High School kids. Two of the girls cried and whined the entire trip over missing their boyfriends back home. (Just like Audrey) Another never took of her headphones(Rusty). The tour guide rushed us through all the sights and I personally thwarted a pickpocket's atempt to steal one of the parents' wallets. Overall I had a great time and absolutely loved Europe.
On my most recent trip my husband had the hardest time understanding English accents, but we got the biggest kick out of how overly polite the English were.
That's what I love about the entire Vacation series of films is that they get funnier as you go through some the same expiriences.

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Yeah you pretty much summed it up, but I did find a few things funny. Not a lot, but a few. As for Heckerling, her biggest mistake was signing on the dotted line to direct this crap. I don't think anyone else could have done better with the material and, yes, the two no talent kids.

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You pretty much hit it on the head. I don't think Heckerling was the right director since she was still inexperienced. Then there is the casting of the kids, and their dialogue was terrible. The kids are whiny all through the film, and it gets annoying after a while. Sometimes sequels are made for the sake of having a sequel, and that is the case with this film. It is fairly aimless, and after a while it gets depressing seeing the Grizwald's suffer from one thing to another. It's like these weren't the same characters from the first film.

MM

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I couldn't stand the kids in this one, either. Clark was right- they were ingrates. Rusty's whole whiny rant "I've been good, I haven't complained or tried to escape"... uh, yeah. He whined constantly and sneaked out to a strip club and got drunk.

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"..Just ENDLESS WHINING."

Well, you should be able to relate to it then

Who busts the Crimebusters?

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Your mother.

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My recollections of family vacations are mostly endless whining. We didn't go on vacation every year. If we were lucky we got one week at the Jersey Shore ... and we were grateful. We also walked to school barefoot in the snow uphill ... both ways.

When I was a kid I thought John Hughes was a genius. Now some of his humor looks mean spirited and occasionally racist.

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Right, growing up...I never went on holiday because I guess my mom just could not afford it. I guess the children constantly whining in this movie stays true to how over privileged children act in real life. I onced watched a reality show in which both teenaged siblings kept on whining on how they did not want to go to a family vacation to Cancun. I guess once kids are given the privilege of traveling all the time, they loose appreciation?

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I don't get the hate for this movie, I thought it was hilarious. I like them all in the order they're in.

If you think Tony Soprano died, you're overanalyzing the ending and creating your own script.

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Yeah, this one does have laughs but it was interesting that the OP mentioned how there was no end goal here; just one locale after another that they visit. Also, the kidnapping and whole last 20 mins seemed forced and "Un-vacation like".

I will say that the Rusty and Audrey in this were fine. The CHRISTMAS rusty and Audrey were dull and boring. They really didn't do anything that were any sort of Antics that Griswold kids get involved with in the other three films. Christmas kids were the weakest of the four.



So: a realistic, down to earth show..which is completely off the wall swarming with magic robots?!

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Hughes didn't write this one, despite the credits, check the trvia...

It shows too, as does the absence of a competent director. Chase does some great stuff but Heckerling just doesn't have the wit or timing of Ramis, who kept finding microscopic funny moments in the first film.

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