The following review was written by Ultimate Rabbit correspondent, Tony Farinella.

When it comes to comedy in films, I’m well aware of the fact it is subjective.  In fact, film criticism as a whole is subjective, but I feel as though with comedy, it is especially subjective. What I find funny in film, you might find painfully stupid and vice versa. When it comes to the National Lampoon films with Chevy Chase at the helm, I find them annoying and tedious.  They fall completely flat for me.  I initially watched “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and was completely unimpressed. Now, it was my first time watching the initial film, “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” and I’ll just say I have no desire, whatsoever, to watch “European Vacation” or “Vegas Vacation.”

Upon researching this film, I discovered readers of Total Film Magazine ranked it as the 46th greatest comedy of all-time. I’m truly baffled by this. It starts with its lead actor in Chevy Chase.  I don’t find his style of comedy particularly interesting, funny, or unique.  He is overplaying it in these films with his facial reactions and mannerisms, and I found his character of Clark Griswold to be rather exhausting and laborious to spend time with, even if it’s only for a little over an hour and a half.  It comes down to laughter, and I might have smirked once or twice during this film.

In “Vacation,” the Griswolds are looking to take a trip from Illinois to California by car, to visit Walley World, a world-famous amusement park, as Clark is looking to spend more quality time with his family. He feels as though if they were to travel by plane, they would just listen to music and tune each other out.  Even though it’s a lengthy trip, he looks forward to getting to bond with his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and their two children, Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall) and Audrey (Dana Barron). Audrey is a teenage girl who likes to live on the wild side while Rusty is looking to take the next step into being a man.

Along the way, they run into every possible problem you can imagine with their mode of transportation, traffic issues, misfortunes, folderol, and even death. They also stop by and visit everyone’s favorite Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), who is always looking for a handout or a quick buck by telling his latest sob story. Either you like these characters or you don’t.  Personally, my favorite character is Ellen, played by Beverly D’Angelo, as she plays the straight woman perfectly during all of this mayhem and mischief.

The expression, “Whatever can go wrong will go wrong” definitely applies to the Griswolds.  After a while, as an audience member, you see it coming from a mile away.  It doesn’t work because you know trouble is right around the corner.  If everything were going well, there wouldn’t be a movie to be made here. If you want a road trip movie which can produce great laughs, look no further than “Midnight Run.”  However, if you don’t have quirky and likable characters, the film is going to fail.  As a film critic, I’m driven by characters more than plot. A film needs a plot of course, but I can overlook the lack of one if the characters are keeping me glued to the screen.

Now that I’ve seen two of these films, I can safely state this brand of slapstick, gimmick comedy is not my cup of tea.  I know these films are hugely popular, especially “Christmas Vacation,” but I found them extremely painful to sit through as a viewer.  It’s even more surprising this film didn’t connect with me because it was written by John Hughes and directed by Harold Ramis, two of my favorites.

* out of * * * *

4K Info: “National Lampoon’s Vacation” is being released on a single-disc 4K from Warner Brothers Home Entertainment.  It is rated R and has a running time of 98 minutes.  It also comes with a digital code for the film.

Video Info:  The 4K transfer on this forty-year-old film is terrific. It is crisp, clean, and quite colorful.  They really upgraded this one in a masterful way.  It looks beautiful and has no issues whatsoever.

Audio Info: The Dolby Atmos track is a very nice touch here, and the film sounds terrific from start to finish.  It is a dialogue heavy film, and you can hear all of the dialogue without skipping a beat.

Special Features:

Commentary with Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Matty Simmons, Harold Ramis, Anthony Michael Hall, and Dana Barron

Should You Buy It?

If you are a fan of the franchise and this film, it is a must-own because Warner Brothers has done a phenomenal job with making this film really pop on 4K. Even though it was my first time watching it, I can’t imagine it gets much better than this from an audio and visual perspective.  The commentary track comes from the previously released Blu-ray, but at least there is something to listen to if you want to hear some interesting tidbits about the making of the film.  As stated early on, you either like Clark and the Griswolds or you find them insufferable like myself.  I’ve seen “Christmas Vacation” and “Vacation,” and it is more than enough for me.  It comes down to your personal preference. As the old saying goes, “For those that like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.” However, if you do love it, you would be making a grave mistake not to own the 4K of this film.  They really hit a home run here from a technical aspect.

**Disclaimer** I received a copy of this film from Warner Brothers to review for free.  The opinions and statements in the review are mine and mine alone.