Vacation 1983

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The result is a confident humor and throwaway style that helps sustain the laughs -- of which there are quite a few. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: Despite plenty of gross-out gags and dumb slapstick bits, the careful viewer can occasionally detect some acrid and original satire in this 1983 film. Read more

Richard Rayner, Time Out: The result is not so much a comedy about American values as a 2,500 mile skid on a banana skin. The visual gags come thick and fast, and are about as subtly signposted as the exit markers on a freeway. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: National Lampoon's Vacation is an enjoyable trip through familiar comedy landscapes. Read more

Gary Arnold, Washington Post: Half-baked but occasionally hilarious, National Lampoon's Vacation gets a reasonable amount of mileage out of depicting the disaster-prone journey of a "typical" family of four, the Griswolds of suburban Chicago. Read more