Review: Vacation (2015)

Just when you thought I couldn’t talk anymore about Vacation on this blog, bam! Sequel/remake time. I’m in my prime right now. On a serious note though, the original Vacation was my whole childhood, and since the very recent passing of my Granny I’ve felt even more of a connection to it. Every Bank Holiday as a child would be spent at my grandparents with a KFC, and National Lampoon’s Vacation would be played.  I only watched the original Vacation once as a child so I don't have the same connection to it as Allie but I did enjoy it (even if I don't like Chevy Chase - Sorry Allie!!)

I’ve been waiting for this film for about 2 years now since it was announced. In fact, Jenna and I still worked together when it was announced! I think I had a celebratory Subway for lunch that day. I do however realise that sequels are very rarely as good as their originals, and by the time I bought my cinema ticket I was mainly just hoping it wouldn’t suck.

Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) is all grown up now and with his family life stuck in a bit of a rut, he remembers the fun he had as a child on his family road trip and vacation to Walley World. Clearly he didn’t remember it very well, as it was a disaster, but nonetheless he decides to take his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate), and two sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins) on the same road trip. As James wisely points out, he’s never even heard of the original vacation, but that’s okay, Rusty says it will stand on its own.  This was a great scene where they basically explained that you didn't need to see the original to enjoy this one...very clever!!

Whilst Vacation is never going to win any real awards, can I just award it an honourary ‘best opening credits ever’ award? Seriously, I was in stitches! Before I let this post turn into gushing praise though, I do accept that it’s not the best comedy in the world. No, it’s not better than the original and there are jokes that fall flat. Kevin was really irritating, and a lot of his bad language was just unnecessary.   I don't even remember the opening credits - is that bad?!  I don't think at any point I laughed hysterically, all the jokes were set up so you could see what was going to happen, which limited the surprise laughs to be had!

Other jokes though are making me laugh while I type this just thinking about it. The rocket button on the car’s key fob? I don’t even know what it was about that scene that made me laugh so hard, but my sides hurt after it! The Korean sat-nav joke never got old either, and completely caught me off guard every time. Even if you aren’t a fan of the film itself, this has got to be fun just to spot all the cameos! I didn’t even know half of them, but my friends did and we all know how fun it is to spot one of our favourite actors or actresses when we weren’t expecting them to turn up.  Thanks Allie for the reminder, I did laugh out loud a few times and they were all related to that car/key fob.  Although the fob joke was set up really early, I never had any idea what was going to happen to the car when they pressed any of the buttons so that did keep me entertained!

Hmmm...what was I saying again?

For fans of the original, there are plenty homages to spot. I think I confused everyone around me when I chuckled as the Griswold’s drove over that bridge. The biggest throwback for me though is the Holiday Road song that was played multiple times. It doesn’t matter where I am or what mood I’m in, that song will make me smile.  I think I missed most of the homages, as it has been a looooooong time since I saw the original - Allie we'll have to watch this together and you'll have to enlighten me!

I accept I may be alone in my praise of Vacation, but that’s okay. 

In this particular post, yes you are alone....

You don't understand!!

Review: Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)

As much as I enjoy a good mind-bending thriller or a jaw-dropping action film, there are times when I just need to watch a comedy. I don’t like having just 1 favourite film of any type, but if I had to pick my favourite comedy, it would be Horrible Bosses. Nick, Kurt and Dale have cheered me up after many a bad day at work, and I was both excited and nervous about seeing Horrible Bosses 2. The sequel is never as good as the original, right?

If you saw the original Horrible Bosses, you’ll know that the trio (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day) finally rid themselves of their awful superiors. Well now, they’ve decided to become their own bosses and create their own company, selling a product they invented, the Shower Buddy. They find an investor (Christoph Waltz) who puts in an initial order of 100,000 units, but then he rips off their product and cancels, putting the guys’ company in jeopardy. To save their business, they decide to kidnap the investors son (Chris Pine) and hold him to ransom.

Putting aside the silly plot and the brilliant one-liners, what I love the most about Horrible Bosses is the chemistry between the 3 main guys. It’s all so real and they bounce off each other so well, I can’t help but smile no matter what they’re saying. None of them is the main star here, they all have equal parts to play and they shine together. As much as I love Chris Pine, I wondered how he would fit into the cast but he played a fantastic ‘bad guy’. Think of Kirk from Star Trek in the bar, but a little more over the top, and that’s how he is in this.

You can expect the crude humour that Bateman, Sudeikis and Day spout throughout the film, but some of Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston’s lines made me cry with laughter. They’re just not the kinds of things you can imagine them saying, and the gag reel in the credits proved how difficult it was for them to keep straight faces at time. Really, the cast as a whole were equally brilliant.

Some of my favourite moments were the Sharpie marker incidents, the foolproof ‘plan’ the trio put together, and the support group scene, but honestly, I loved it all. If I were to give any criticism, it would be that the plot was just too predictable, although that didn’t really take anything away from it for me because although I worked out what would happen, there were still little details I wasn’t expecting, and plenty of laughs to distract me.

Honestly, I don’t think I could rate the two Horrible Bosses films now. I’d have to go back and watch the first again, but right now I rank them together, and highly! I know this film isn’t for anybody, but it’s just my cup of tea.