National Lampoon's European Vacation Review

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Released: 1985

The Griswalds are back in National Lampoon's European Vacation, the sequel to 1983's hilarious hit Vacation. After having won a free European trip on a televised game show, the Griswalds strike off to popular destinations such as England, France, Germany and Italy. But even the simplest plans go awry, as Clark and his family stumbles from one crazy adventure into another.

Honey, we're not normal people. We're the Griswalds! – Clark Griswald

Through a stroke of luck, Clark (Chevy Chase), Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), Audrey (Dana Hill) and Rusty (Jason Lively) Griswald beat the reigning champions on a popular television game show, thereby winning an all-expenses-paid European vacation. Although the kids are no more enthused about participating in this vacation than they were their cross-country one in the original Vacation, Clark is again determined to ensure the family spends some quality time together.

The trip begins smoothly enough, but once they check into their first destination – a somewhat seedy hotel in London – things quickly take a turn for the worst. Not only does the family find that the amenities promised by the game show brochures were exaggerated, to put it nicely, obstacles such as shared bathrooms and unmarked hotel room doors create opportunities for mistaken identities when Clark and Ellen are feeling frisky.

From that outrageous start, National Lampoon's European Vacation offers us a madcap adventure filled with zany scenarios and cultural clashes as the Griswalds travel through the major sites in Europe.

National Lampoon's European Vacation is treated like the black sheep of the family by many fans of the series, but although I agree it didn't quite match the genius of the original I do think this sequel was a lot of fun, and definitely better than the Vegas Vacation.

Some of the jokes ambush you when you least expect them, such as a German dance that gets a bit too physical. Others are fairly predictable but manage to make you smile nonetheless due to the stars' charisma, such as an incident where Clark gets stuck in traffic on the busy circle near London's Big Ben. And yes, some jokes tend to fall flat, such as when Clark accidentally backs his car into Stonehenge.

The humor ranges from outright slapstick to crafty zingers that might slip by you if you weren't paying attention, and although this is rated PG-13 I do feel it's fair to warn you that some of the content is a bit risqué. Were this movie to be rated today it would probably earn an R, but it's not at all a "hard" R, nor will it permanently scar the minds of innocent youths.

Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo were fantastic – just as charismatic and appealing as they were in the original. National Lampoon's European Vacation's success is owed entirely to this pair.

Let me interrupt this review with a quick pop quiz. What do the following things have in common?

The sound of fingernails scratching a blackboard.
An inconsiderate jerk yapping out loud behind you while you're trying to enjoy a movie at the theater.
Getting pulled over by a cop for driving 1 mile per hour over the posted speed limit.

Answer: None of the above grated on my nerves nearly as much as Dana Hill's performance in this film did! She was so obnoxiously repugnant that words almost cannot describe my disgust. Jason Lively was a hair better than Hill, but his performance was nothing to write home about either.

It's a shame that the original two child actors did not participate in the sequel, because whereas they were believable and agreeable enough, these two hack jobs dragged the sequel down a notch. In fact the main reason many fans scoff at this entry in the Vacation series is due to the lousy casting choices for the Griswald siblings.

But you know what? While the questionable casting of those two strikes a star from the final score, ultimately National Lampoon's European Vacation was still a lot of fun. And that's what is most important for my comedies.

Movie rating: 8 stars

If you enjoyed National Lampoon's European Vacation you may also find the following films to be of interest: