This was a tragically unfunny film which struggled to produce any laughs. It felt like the writers just gave up on this film with only a handful of humorous moments. I had not seen the original 'vacation' films though presumed this one should be able to stand on its own but it failed to do so miserably.
My concerns about the film were first brought to afore with the trailer which seemed to be a poorly strung together collections of cliché American comedy moments. It lacked originality with many of the jokes seemingly regurgitated from other American comedy films. Another issue that became apparent on watching the film was that trailer contained every funny moment from the film. If you have watched the trailer then you have watched the whole film.
Having finished the trailer I was adamant not to watch such a poor looking film. However one night with nothing else to fill my time I was coerced into watching it by an unruly friend. Therefore I settled down for what was quite possibly the most excruciating 99 minutes of my life.
The first issue with the film is the characters who appear to have had no genuine effort put into them. This is evident by the fact that it has been only 2 hours since I watched the film and I cannot remember the first names of any of the main characters. The main character is a pilot and father who seems fairly affable but prone to awkward situations (like so many American comedy characters). His wife is a wildly underdeveloped character, all we really know about her is that she seems unhappy in her current relationship and secretly fancies her brother-in-law. The eldest son seems slightly geeky and overly emotional, his character was very irritating and not well acted. The youngest son is a frequently swearing little boy who bullies his brother. He was by far the funniest character with a malicious sense of humour that was well deployed throughout the film.
The comedy and jokes in the film were clearly its downfall as the poor characters would have been bearable if the jokes were funnier. Instead the film revolved around a set of tedious running jokes such as the Albanian car with its complicated remote, I felt I was missing something with this joke. Perhaps the worst running joke was the frequent references to child molestation, showing how low this movie went to try and get laughs. The film also crudely tries to make light of a fatal car crash and suicide, both scenes so poorly done I struggled to look at the screen.
If you have reached this point of the review I would urge you to avoid this film at all costs, the only reason I could possibly understand this positive 5 star reviews is that people are being blinded by nostalgia. In some other reviews they call the film "raunchy". It was not "raunchy", it was vulgar and perverse. This without a doubt ranks as one of the three worst films I have ever seen, I would not wish it upon my worst enemies.