Pack up the station wagon and punch Wally World into your GPS device, because New Line is edging closer to committing cinema blasphemy by remaking Harold Ramis’ cherished National Lampoon’s Vacation. And according to the L.A. Times, they want Nutty Professor II: The Klumps director Peter Segal at the helm.
Kind of makes you feel like the dog tied to the back of Clark’s bumper, doesn’t it?
Granted, Segal also helmed Tommy Boy and a handful of perfectly acceptable Adam Sandler comedies in 50 First Dates, Anger Management and The Longest Yard. When selecting a director for a Vacation remake, there are far worse choices a studio could make. (Hello, Dennis Dugan.) The bigger issue lies in the fact that New Line wants to remake Vacation, at all. Why fix a comedy that isn’t broken? Ramis’ dysfunctional story of dimwitted father (Chevy Chase) taking his family on an ill-fated road trip hasn’t aged poorly since 1983. What’s next, a Caddyshack reboot with the likes of Ashton Kutcher and Zach Galifianakis?
A second draft of the Vacation script has penned by Horrible Bosses scribes John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, who tell the Times that their story focuses on Clark’s son Rusty, who was portrayed by Anthony Michael Hall in the original. But according to their description – they call him “an everyman, goodhearted, maybe a little bit of a doofus” – whomever they cast will just be mimicking Chase. And you know if the lead is a grown Rusty, Chase will be approached to play Clark as a senior. Pray to whichever God you worship that Chevy, so good on NBC’s Community, passes if the opportunity presents itself.
Listen, we’re not going to pretend the Vacation brand is spotless. While I hold a soft spot for European Vacation, the need to crank out unnecessary sequels spoiled the series’ good name. Vegas Vacation officially drove a nail through the franchise’s fading heart, and I’m not sure a remake or reboot will help. Even comments made by Goldstein in an attempt to cut off fan frustration don’t have us sold. “There's a trend to remake movies that shouldn't be remade, at least not yet," Goldstein tells the paper. "If this were a straight remake, we'd be hesitant. But we think this is fair game. It's characters people like. We're just advancing the story."
We’d rather you don’t, but we’ll see where this heads.
