Vacation: 10 Ill-Advised Comedy Movie Comebacks

National Lampoon's Vacation had a good run. The first film combined lowbrow antics with genuine heart. Chevy Chase played an incompetent guy who in the face of overwhelming odds wanted the best for his family. The Griswolds were about as far from perfect as you could get, and that was the point. European Vacation took the gang away from their native soil for a patchy sequel.

The years went by and the occasional return visit would be made - we spent Christmas with the Griswolds and watched Chase grow older. His kids underwent more facelifts than Doctor Who. It was reasonable to assume everything that could possibly be done had been done. However, as we know, very little in Tinseltown is reasonable.

You can argue the basic idea is straightforward and can be resurrected easily. Comedy road movies are after all a dime a dozen. And it makes sense that the little boy from the original instalment (Ed Helms as Rusty) would grow up and want to do the same thing as his Dad. Tying it to a series that burned itself out over a long number of years though? Not the greatest indicator of freshness. The critics, as you might expect, weren't in the holiday spirit. It may depress you to know the new movie has been a box office success so far.