Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Vacation Adoption Movie Review
It’s been about thirty years since Clark Griswold tried to
take his family to Wally World. Now, his son Rusty is in a struggling marriage,
and his two sons are at odds with each other. His family dreads the annual
camping vacation, and so Rusty tries to surprise them by scheduling a
cross-country road trip to Wally World. While his family isn’t particularly
excited, they agree to go along. Rusty rented the only car available, and it
injures him pretty quickly. The rest of the ride goes pretty much downhill.
The Adoption / Foster Care Connection
There’s no adoption connection here. It is, in some ways, a
movie about a family that’s trying to stay together, fueled by a father’s
strong desire to have a close family relationship. Rusty has made ongoing sacrifices
in order to be close to his family.
Strong Points
Rusty wants – and is willing to work for – a loving family
and a strong marriage. That’s what has motivated this vacation, and many of his
other life choices. Rusty’s wife Deborah affirms him ,”Marriage only dies when
you stop trying, and you have never stopped trying.”
Challenges
The younger brother bullies the
older brother. The older brother only puts a stop to it by becoming physically
aggressive with the younger brother.
Weak Points
The film is crass, just for the sake of being crass. Some of
the things that were particularly uncomfortable: a joke about AIDS, a very
foul-mouthed ten-year-old, a swastika being used for humor, a series of
pedophile jokes, a couple scenes where one child dries to choke out another
with a plastic bag, a mom getting very drunk in front of her children, evidence
of a suicide being played for humor, misunderstanding, underage teens talking
about explicit sexual acts, jokes about cannibalism in cows, a cow being graphically
destroyed by a vehicle collision being used for humor, an insensitive portrayal
of Korea, more rapist jokes, another suicide-for-humor scene, and a man gargling raw sewage.
Recommendations
I laughed several times during Vacation, but overall, for most younger audiences it was inexcusably crass, beyond what I anticipated. It might be better to revisit
the original. Some adults might enjoy it, but I think it might be uncomfortable
for fans of the first movie. The redeeming qualities of the film lie in the
surprisingly strong portrayal of a dad’s commitment to his family.
Questions for
Discussion
How do you know when family relationships are healthy?
What choices do we make on an ongoing basis that impact the
relationships within our families?
Do you wish your family relationships were different than
they are? How?
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