Ed Helms plays adult Rusty Griswold (the son from the original movie), who takes his family cross country to Walley World. Their trip has plenty of mishaps: some of them are genuinely funny and many are gross or crude. The most enjoyable character is actually the young brother (Steele Stebbins), who’s a foul-mouth bully (sure, it’s an easy joke, but he pulled it off). The first hour is peppy and liberally sprinkled with laugh-out-loud gags. The second half loses some of the comic momentum, but the soundtrack adds musical energy. NOTE: Don’t miss the opening montage of hilarious vacation fotos gone bad (actually, the comic highlight of the film).
(3 / 5)