One of the funniest movies of 1997, Vegas Vacation lives up to the high level of comic relief expected from this ongoing National Lampoon series. Although on the lower end of hilarity compared to Holidays, European Holidays and Christmas Holidays, the film is nonetheless a non-stop laugh-out-loud comedy in its own right. After all, how can we expect anything to measure up to the genius of a perfect comedy like Christmas Vacation? Complete with a new cast of kids, Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo once again form an on-screen comedy duo that is simply magical…
When Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) receives a large bonus as a reward from the company for inventing a new food preservative, he and his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) decide the money is better spent on a good old-fashioned family vacation. . But when kids Rusty (Ethan Embry) and Audrey (Marisol Nichols) bicker over the destination, the only place that gets unanimous family reviews is a Las Vegas vacation.
Flying to Las Vegas, the family experiences a series of obstacles that threaten to tear them apart forever. Clark becomes addicted to gambling (including rock-paper-scissors bets and a guy who does an “I’m thinking of a number between one and ten” routine in a low-rent casino), Ellen becomes the target of the seduction of Wayne Newton. An underage Rusty becomes a gambling superstar under the cover identity of Nicholas Pappagiorgio, and Audrey tries her luck at an exotic dance after a date with her stripper cousin Vicki… Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) does another show-stealing performance as the redneck, dumber-than-relative-than-a-doorknob, and he follows Clark around the casinos lavishly downing his drink of choice – a thirty-ounce can of Busch Light.
The funniest scenes in the movie involve Eddie (as always) and his family of trailer trash, now living in a trailer on a parcel of land Eddie bought cheap because it’s a graveyard for nuclear waste. And Rusty’s various exploits under the alias Nic Pappaggiogio are extremely funny. Meeting up with a group of quasi-mobster, professional gamers, Rusty enjoys the massages, complimentary suites, and various luxuries associated with the biggest names in the business. Vegas Vacation is just plain fun. If you liked the previous movies, don’t miss this one…
Continuing the stellar reputation of the Vacation film series, Vegas Vacation is pure fun from start to finish. Chevy Chase is up to his usual antics, and Wayne Newton turns in a classic performance as Griswold’s homewrecker. Suitable for the whole family, Vegas Vacation is a comedy made for both parents and children. And its role as another show in Griswold’s long line of comedies makes Vegas Vacation definitely a must-see…
