Vacation (I) (2015)

Reboot to the National Lampoon's Vacation series that's also a sequel of sorts. Rusty Griswold is all grown up with kids of his own and decides to take them to Walley World like his dad did with their family all those years ago. The results are just as chaotic, if never quite as funny. Remakes, reboots, etc. are always tough to make work (as they should be) but this one does surprisingly OK. It's not a patch on the first few Vacation films with Chevy Chase (who has an unfunny appearance late in this movie) but it is good in its own way. Ed Helms and Christina Applegate provide few of the laughs, which hurts more than anything since they are the leads. Most of the successful humor comes from the guest stars like Chris Hemsworth and the two kids playing the sons, Steele Stebbins and Skyler Gisondo. Stebbins is especially funny and easily the best part of the movie. To the movie's credit, it doesn't simply do a scene-for-scene remake and tries to make its own mark. But years of road trip comedies, many of which were inspired by the original Vacation, makes this feel more than a little familiar. Still, it's watchable and provides some laughs if you're in the right mood.