Vegas Vacation

Vegas Vacation
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Kessler
Produced by	Jerry Weintraub
Written by	Screenplay: Elisa Bell Story: Elisa Bell Bob Ducsay Characters: John Hughes
Starring	Chevy Chase Ethan Embry Marisol Nichols Beverly D'Angelo Randy Quaid
Music by	Joel McNeely
Cinematography	William A. Fraker
Editing by	Seth Flaum
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	February 14, 1997 (1997-02-14)
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
Box office	$36,429,528 (USA)

Vegas Vacation is a 1997 comedy film. It is the fourth film in the original Vacation film series centering around the fictitious Griswold family, following Vacation, European Vacation, and Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase reprises his starring role as Clark W. Griswold, the patriarch of the family. The film opened at #4 at the box office and grossed over $36.4 million domestically.^[1] This is the only theatrical Vacation film not to be sponsored by National Lampoon.

Plot

At work, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) has invented a long life food preservative, earning him a large bonus check. Clark announces to his family that he is taking them on vacation. Enthusiasm wanes, however, when Clark says they are headed to Las Vegas, Nevada. His wife, Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and teenage daughter, Audrey (Marisol Nichols) have their doubts, as Las Vegas is not known for its family-friendly atmosphere, while teenage son Rusty (Ethan Embry) appears to be more eager, even asking if prostitution is legal there. Upon travelling to Vegas, they run into the "girl in the Ferrari" (Christie Brinkley) who appeared in the first film, Clark is the only one who sees her, but then notices that she has a child.

Upon arriving in Vegas, the family embarks upon a series of mishaps and adventures. Clark crosses paths with Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), the husband of Ellen's cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn). Eddie and his family now live in the desert just north of Las Vegas, on what used to be an H-bomb test site. While on a group tour of the gigantic Hoover Dam, Clark foolishly leaves the group after accidentally creating a leak in the dam's inside walkways, and is forced to climb the scaffolding to the very top of the dam to get out, because his cries for help cannot be heard over the roaring water of the spillway. Later that night, they win tickets to a Siegfried & Roy (as themselves) concert. Clark is involved, and is turned into a tiger, at the end he is turned back into human though. The next day at night, tickets to a Wayne Newton (as himself) concert, (and a dress for Ellen) are sent in the mail. They go to the concert, only to realize that Newton had sent the dress, and while singing he has Ellen go on stage and sing with him.

The next day, the family go out to eat, but after Ellen gets a suspicion, they decided to go their own ways just for the day. Clark goes to a casino and becomes addicted to gambling (mostly Blackjack, which he usually loses), Rusty gets a fake ID and becomes a winning high roller (taking on the pseudonym 'Nick Pappagiorgio'), Audrey starts hanging out with Eddie's wild stripper daughter Vickie (Shae D'Lyn) (and hanging out with impersonators of The Beatles and Vickie's friends as well), and Ellen becomes addicted to Wayne Newton, who may have feelings for Ellen, and it's making Clark jealous.

Meanwhile, After Clark gambles away the family's $22,600 bank account, Ellen finds out and tells Clark that he is ruining their vacation together, besides the fact they're not even spending a "Family Vacation" together, and leaves, then Russ and Audrey depart too. Russ goes off gambling (he has more success at this than Clark does) for cars, Ellen goes to eat with Wayne Newton, and Audrie goes to a strip club with Vickie, and begins to dance like a stripper, leaving Clark alone without money. Eddie — who has money buried in his front yard — tries to come to the Griswold family's rescue in return for everything the Griswolds have done for him and his family over the years. Clark and Eddie go to a local casino to get their money back, but after losing too many games, Clark runs out of Eddie's money.

Clark then goes and finds Ellen at Newton's house, before he kisses Ellen, and apologizes to her. They then go to a party where Russ is, and find him in a Jacuzzi flirting with girls who are in it with him, they take him out of the Jacuzzi, go to the stripper club, get Audrey and leave. The Griswolds gamble their last two dollars on a game of Keno. They take a seat next to an older man (Sid Caesar in a cameo) who compliments Clark on his lovely family, and hints that he's been lonely all of his life. Out of guilt, Clark tells the man to consider himself part of the Griswold family for the night. The man happily accepts Clark's kind words, and both parties begin the game. At first, the Griswolds are hopeful, but as they realize they've already lost the game, they sadly sit for moments in silence. Suddenly, the man next to them ecstatically declares that he's won the game. As he continues to express joy, he suddenly begins to slip in and out of consciousness while Ellen sends Rusty for help. He awakens one last time and whispers a message to Clark, before dropping his winning ticket and falling one final time.

Clark, puzzled, tells Ellen that the man said "take the ticket". When the casino security guards and paramedics arrive, they declare the man officially dead. They tell the Griswolds his name was Mr. Ellis, and commented on how sad his loneliness was to them, it is also revealed that he was the owner of this casino. As Mr. Ellis is carried away, a janitor approaches with a vacuum cleaner; walking straight for the winning ticket on the floor. Though it appears Clark is going to allow it to be lost, he at the last moment pulls the ticket out of the path of the vacuum. With them winning the lottery, Clark and Ellen get remarried (Russ is Clark's best man and Audrey is Ellen's bridesmaid.) Afterwards, Clark hands Eddie a large pile of cash (Eddie can be overheard saying $5000 after counting it) and explains by telling him that "we were very fortunate last night". They all drive home in the four cars Rusty won on the slot machines: a Dodge Viper, a Ford Mustang, a Hummer H1, and a Ford Aspire.

Cast

• Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
• Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
• Marisol Nichols as Audrey Griswold
• Ethan Embry as Russell "Rusty" Griswold
• Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
• Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine
• Shae D'Lyn as Cousin Vicki
• Wallace Shawn as Marty
• Julia Sweeney as Mirage Reception Person

Cameos

• Wayne Newton as himself
• Siegfried & Roy as themselves
• Toby Huss as young Frank Sinatra impersonator/fake i.d. salesman
• Christie Brinkley as "Girl in the Red Ferrari" from the first film
• Sid Caesar as Mr. Ellis
• Jerry Weintraub as "Gilly from Philly"

Production

The Mirage Resort on the Las Vegas Strip was a major filming location for this movie. It was filmed during the busy tourist season, from mid-June, through late September 1996. Several sections of the movie are filmed at Shenandoah, the home of entertainer Wayne Newton, who also appears in the film.

Nichols and Embry became the fourth different set of actors to play the Griswold children, Audrey and Rusty. This fact is referenced early in the film when Clark Griswold comments that he hardly recognizes his children anymore. The role of Huss was similar to a number of MTV commercials from the early 1990s that featured Huss as a Vegas crooner.

This was the first (and only) theatrical Vacation film in the series to receive a PG rating. The first Vacation film was rated R, while European Vacation and Christmas Vacation received PG-13 ratings. As a result the language, and vulgar/sexual situations as in the previous films do somewhat exist but are much more mild and toned down than the other installments.

Critical reception

The film has received mostly mixed to negative reviews. The film has garnered a "Rotten" rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes^[2] and a weighted average score of 20 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[3] However, the film has received a C+ rating at Box Office Mojo and a score on 5.6 on Internet Movie Database.

Despite mixed reviews, Vegas Vacation has found success on DVD and on television.

References

1. ^ Vegas Vecation Box Office Mojo
2. ^ "Vegas Vacation (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vegas_vacation/. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
3. ^ Metacritic on Vegas Vacation

External links

• Vegas Vacation at the Internet Movie Database
• Vegas Vacation at AllRovi