Vegas Vacation A Movie Review	MPAA Rated - PG It's 1:33 Long A Review by Stu Gotz

When I woke up today I was excited as to what the day may hold. Not because it was Valentine's Day, but rather because it was Friday. As we all know Friday is new movie release day and on this particular Friday Chevy Chase's new movie was due out. Unfortunately my local big town paper didn't have a review of "Vegas Vacation" in it. Hmmm... That should have told me something. Regardless, I'm a big Chevy fan from way back, when most people think he did his best work. Hey, he's still doing good stuff, granted his short lived show on FOX sucked big time and "European Vacation" was simply terrible. But hey, the "Fletch" films were good, "Memoirs of an Invisible Man" wasn't all that bad, and "Christmas Vacation" is one of my all time favorites. So how did Chevy's new movie rate in my mind. Let's just say I'm glad I caught the matinee and would have been happier to have seen it at the dollar show.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Vacation movies, allow me to explain briefly. Chevy Chase plays the knuckle-headed, often uncoordinated, but lovable family man named Clark Griswold. Chevy is joined on the screen by Beverly "busting out of the seems with great eyes and legs for an old chick" D'Angelo as his loving wife, and two kids, Rusty and Audrey, who keep changing from movie to movie.

In the latest Griswold adventure the family heads out to my favorite town, Las Vegas! For me the thought of the Griswold's in Vegas had tons of potential. Think about it... Clark could squander all the family's money gambling, the kids could be seduced by the gambling glitter and glitz of Vegas, and the wife could have an affair. All these movie opportunities do arise, but unfortunately the movie didn't exploit these situations well. I dare say that's because Chevy may have had too much creative control. Much like his short lived TV show, "Vegas Vacation" spent too much time highlighting Chevy's fumbling slapstick sense of humor and never really allowed the other character's stories to develop too well. For example... Randy Quaid returns as the obnoxious-smelly-with-a-plate-in-his-head cousin Eddie. His character was a stitch in "Christmas Vacation" but in "Vegas Vacation" all he is allowed to be is annoying and not all that funny. When Beverly D'Angelo's character is seduced by Wane Newton this is the perfect opportunity for Clark to go off on a goofy jealousy fit not to mention Bev could have been exploited more fighting off Wayne's advances, but movie does not do that. Instead it wastes time with Clark trying to win back the family money. Audrey Griswold (the daughter) gets bit by the Vegas bug and does run off only to be found in a strip club, but that's all movie allows her. I will say the Griswold son Rusty fairs better with the camera time and situations. After getting a fake ID, Rusty falls upon a lucky streak and becomes quite the high roller. He lives it up getting massages with gangsters, winning cars, and throwing wild parties in hotel suites. He lived my dream! Unfortunately as cool as Rusty's situations are, they're not all that funny.

Very little in this movie was funny and I haven't been so disappointed in a Vacation movie since the European edition. Sorry Chevy, all I can give "Vegas Vacation" is 1.5 stars and I am a very disappointed Stu Gotz. Well that's what I thought and I think the DOTR would agree. Dude?

Dude on the Right here. Yea, what Stu said, but here's my two cents. Like Stu, I've usually like the movies that Chevy has been in, but "Vegas Vacation" just didn't exploit the multitude of opportunities that a town like Las Vegas could hold for a family like the Griswolds of old, or maybe it tried to exploit them all. It tried, many times too hard, but just didn't make it for me. Maybe that is the underlying problem with taking the Griswolds to the city that never sleeps, there are just too many possibilities for laughter, and instead of trying to go after all of them, maybe they would have been better off concentrating on a few. Like Eddie Murphy before, Chevy Chase seems to have fallen in a rut, and quite honestly, whether it was fun for him making the movie or not, it sure didn't look like it was, fun that is. The Clark Griswold of old was spontaneous, goofy, but always got himself out of a jam in a funny way. The Clark Griswold of new just seems to be going through the motions. Here's to Chevy Chase finding his "Nutty Professor" and bringing him back to a good time on screen. I will say this, though, any movie with Wayne Newton in it is almost worth the price of admission, but maybe wait for the dollar theater or the rental.