Ma guarda un po' 'sti americani

The Griswold's (mis-spelled here as Griswald) European Tour is far inferior to their cross-country trek to Walley World. First time around Clark had a goal, a destination, and pay-off for the audience when he finally got there. Second time around he's just wandering aimlessly from country to country, and it doesn't make for great entertainment I'm afraid.

The Griswold's win the grand prize in a humiliating TV show called 'Pig in a Poke' and are sent to England, France, Germany, and Italy on an all expenses paid trip. The bulk of the humor is a scatter-shot approach to comedy that abuses tired clichés and cultural stereotypes for quick, easy, cheap laughs.

Director Amy Heckerling may have used the first Vacation as a reference, but she doesn't have the control over the film that Harold Ramis did, and frequently allows the actors to ad-lib with the assumption that whatever they do might be funny. Even comedy actors need direction, and Heckerling's poor effort ruins many scenes that had potential. Even her camera placing and angles seem awkward and unbalanced. The grainy, low-key photography is also completely inappropriate for a film featuring such a wide range of scenery. Her use of stock footage is bad too (a shot of the Statue of Liberty shows no Twin Towers of the WTC, which were built in 1972!), and heightens the slapdash nature of the production. A few scenes seem to be edited out of order too, which leads me to believe that the script flowed a little differently before being rewritten (Clark leaves the London hotel, moves literally five feet down the street, then asks for directions back to the hotel).

John Hughes' influence on the script was obviously minimum. Vacation and Christmas Vacation were ficionalised accounts of his own family's experiences. But European Vacation feels like a quick cash-in on the original's success, and co-writer Robert Klane doesn't know how to inject the pathos and satire that was so easy for Hughes.

The European trip is definitely lagging far behind Walley World, Christmas and Las Vegas. A better director and a tighter script would have saved it. But Chase is as watchable as ever, and the only reason to sit through this poorly-made drivel.

What happens when a moron takes a road trip around Europe.

Starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill and Jason Lively.

Written by John Hughes and Robert Klane,

Directed by Amy Heckerling.

I chose this oldie to watch on New Year's Eve with my family.

It's a fun movie and kept us entertained while we waited for Big Ben to chime in the new year. We all had a good chuckle and I think we all enjoyed it. I don't know what was funnier, the script or the eighties clothes!

A fun way to see in the New Year,

7/10

Although it's not as good as the first film, this sequel isn't as terrible as I've heard people say. There are some very funny moments and this is Chevy Chase's best screen role. The only thing that's ever really bothered me about the Vacation films is that the Griswold's children are always played by different actors. Maybe I'm being picky, but I like continuity once in a while. There is a nice cameo from Eric Idle that was very funny and I liked the spoof of The Sound Of Music. Worth a watch.

`Pig in a Poke' is the newest game show in the US. Families dress up in pig costumes and answer questions. At the end, they can be pigs and win a great prize. And who's starring on it? Why, none other than our favorite family the Griswalds (spelled differently in this one than the others)! After a close competition with resident champions the Froegers, they win a European vacation. Audrey (Dana Hill) doesn't want to leave behind her boyfriend Jack (William Zabka), and Rusty (Jason Lively) just doesn't want to go. They do, reluctantly, but this two week vacation doesn't go without a hitch.

2nd released in the series, and usually considered least of the series, which I go with. Simply, it's not as funny as the others: Vacation, Christmas Vacation, and Vegas Vacation. It tries to be more raucous and irreverent than the others. It doesn't have a central grasp on any one plot. They go across Europe, but there's nothing that connects all of the destinations. For instance, in Vacation there was Aunt Edna; Christmas Vacation, it actually had a real plot, and in Vegas Vacation there were a few subplots, but they all went through.

All that isn't to say that it wasn't funny, it's just not as funny as the other three. As heard from Chevy Chase on the subpar DVD commentary, he wishes to do another Vacation movie. I would like to see that. Many of the laughs came from slapstick and pratfalls, which aren't my favorite types of humor. Some of them were predictable (they go to Stonehenge…guess what?), but some of the gags (like on the train to Rome) were nice.

The MPAA wrongly gave this movie its PG-13 rating. It most definitely should have been rated R. The writers, which include veteran John Hughes, must have tried to keep the humor in the PG-13 range, because they didn't `rough it up' as much as they wanted to.

One last thought: if there was an earlier movie version of Chicago, Beverly D'Angelo would have been perfect as Roxie.

My rating: 6/10

Rated PG-13 for sustained scenes of nudity, sexual situations, teen drinking and language.

I'm surprised by all the negative comments - this was the first National Lampoon movie I saw, so I came to it fresh. OK, so it's not a great work of art, but I thought it was side-splittingly funny in places, and cleverly parodies all the national stereotypes that people tend to use.

As a great fan of visual humour, my favourite moment in the film has to be the scene where, having had all their clothes stolen, the family go shopping in a boutique in Italy and emerge on to the street dressed in absurdly over-the-top designer creations. It really is one of the funniest sights I have ever seen in a film. I defy anyone with a sense of humour not to laugh.