VEGAS VACATION 1997
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
2 :-( :-( for a forgettable holiday
Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Ethan Embry, Marisol Nichols. Screenplay: Elisa Bell. Director: Stephen Kessler.
What was I expecting on this vacation? A five star hotel with a presidential suite and adjoining swimming pool and spa? Fool. I'm forgetting that this is a Chevy Chase movie, where pearls are tossed to swine. I should have rented "Leaving Las Vegas" instead, in which case I would have got a budget motel and a bargain priced prostitute. Then at least I would have been spared the meaningless squander of the Griswald Clan. After four Vacations, "National Lampoon's", "European", "Christmas" and now "Vegas", I think the next family outing should be kept a private affair.
I have great difficulty remembering the basic plot elements with any Chevy Chase movie. In particular the ones where he goes on holiday with his family. What do they end up doing? How does it start or end? The truth is I can't remember. Aren't movies meant to be memorable, the good ones at least. So one can reflect back and say that was a good movie because -- My single memory of any Vacation movie is of a cyclist who starts spurting blood from all his major vessels, after being run down by the Griswald family. Not one for the family photo album I'm afraid.
Little happens in this movie that hasn't already joined the black hole of lost thoughts lingering in my mind. The children, now grown up go their worldly ways as their father abandons the family to the guile of gambling. The wife, lonely and miserable falls into the arms of Wayne Newton. The movie climaxes when they steal a winning lottery ticket from a dead man. Which brings up the only thought provoking moment of the entire movie. Would you do the same?
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews