I never thought the first National Lampoon’s Vacation was the greatest movie ever made, it sure wasn’t Animal House, but it was fun, and it’s remarkable that people think it’s some great classic in an era where there’s no original ideas to be found at the movies at all.
Actually, perhaps the new reboot of the film is so bad, it makes the original look like a masterpiece, especially considering the reviews rounded up by The Wrap are particularly vicious. It got a 29% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Las Vegas Weekly writes that the cameos of Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo “only highlight how empty and cynical this new movie is, a series of belabored, poorly executed jokes that amount to a sad re-creation of a once-beloved comedy franchise.”
The L.A. Times writes that the movie’s bad attempts at humor are “enough to make you say, ‘Dad, pull over the car, I think I’m gonna be sick.’” Time Out also calls it “so foul and humorless it makes you question whatever attachment you might have to the original.”
It certainly looked this way from the trailers, and we’re shaking our heads as to how this abomination happened in the first place. We don’t think Vacation was such a classic that it’s terrible that it got desecrated, but we’re still hoping that one day Hollywood will come to its senses and stop the remake conveyor belt once and for all.
