Line #0 YMMV/NationalLampoonsVacation


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Clark Griswold bullies and cajoles his family and others around him (he held a theme park guard at gunpoint and had his boss held hostage) to get the holiday vacations of his dreams - ''his'' ideals, which are based on nostalgia and are not necessarily what everyone else believes or wants/needs. With that said, he is apologetic enough for his outbursts, and he goes through enough crap over the films that his breakdowns are forgiven.
3	** He is seen in the 2015 film running a bed and breakfast and being a jerk to his guests. Whether this is LaserGuidedKarma or DisproportionateRetribution is up to you.
4	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Jeffrey Katzenberg was working at Creator/{{Paramount}} when Matty Simmons brought him the script. He rejected it on the grounds that it was too episodic, which Simmons countered by saying, that it was a road movie, so it was, by definition, episodic. Simmons then took the property to Creator/WarnerBros, where it was snapped up.
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The incredibly upbeat "[[SignatureSong Holiday Road]]" by [[Music/FleetwoodMac Lindsey Buckingham]].
6	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu6_0H4GKHM The lounge music that plays in the hotel bar scene.]]
7	* CrossesTheLineTwice: The movie features animal death, car crashes, a corrupt auto repair man, borderline adultery, theft, an old woman dying, and her body being left on a doorstep. But the sheer scale of these things happening in quick succession produces memorable comedy.
8	* DirectorDisplacement: Creator/JohnHughes wrote the script based on his short story, yet it was directed by Creator/HaroldRamis.
9	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
10	** The girl in the Ferrari has, no doubt, been iconic. Both for being [[BestKnownForTheFanservice sexy]] and having a small role. Hell, she makes a return in the [[Film/VegasVacation third sequel]].
11	** Cousin Eddie.
12	* FirstInstallmentWins: Helped by intense {{sequelitis}}, from which only ''Film/NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation'' is found to get a pass.
13	** [[Film/{{Vacation}} The 2015 sequel]] is getting this reaction too with people who dislike the larger amounts of crude humor in comparison to the original, and how the film is essentially just a kinda-sorta remake of the original (with one of the film's own trailers lampshading this fact) with much more heavy-handed attempts at comedy; highlighted further by the fact the 2015 movie recreates almost shot for shot the famous "flirting with a hot woman on the highway" scene, only this one has her brutally killed in a head-on collision, which many viewers found to be a ComedicSociopathy bit that leaned too heavily on the "sociopathy" part.
14	* HarsherInHindsight: In the post-meltdown scene, Ellen reprimands Clark and tells him that she's afraid that he might kill the desk clerk and hold up a UsefulNotes/McDonalds. There would be a mass shooting at a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ysidro_McDonald%27s_massacre San Ysidro McDonald's]] less than a year later.
15	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: After being typically antagonistic as brothers and sisters are, when Audrey freaks out about Aunt Edna's death, Rusty comforts her without a second thought.
16	* HilariousInHindsight:
17	** Clark's line about how he'll wake up one day to find the kids are grown up is quite prophetic. Over three more films and fifteen years, the kids kept getting recast to stay roughly the same age, but then suddenly we get an adult Rusty going on his own vacation in the 2015 film.
18	** All those complaints against the idea of going to Walley World by car instead of by plane became funnier after the 2015 film revealed that Rusty became an airplane pilot.
19	** Walley World being closed when the family arrives is much funnier since Six Flags Magic Mountain, the park used as Walley World, is now open 365 days a year (even on national holidays).
20	** When the Griswolds arrive at Walley World, Colossus looks pretty large. Thanks to Six Flags Magic Mountain's commitment to larger, taller and faster steel coasters, the ride began to look a lot less intimidating after Goliath opened in 2000.
21	** When Grover first appears near the end of the film, he asks "What's going on here?" before being held at gun point and being forced by Clark Griswold to "lie down, roll over, and stay." Frank [=McRae=] played a teacher in ''Film/RedDawn1984'', where he would ask the same question before getting shot for real.
22	* HollywoodHomely: The pointless subplot about Clark, played by Creator/ChevyChase, lusting after Christie Brinkley's character seems even more puerile given that the stunning Beverly D'Angelo plays Ellen.
23	* IncestYayShipping: Dana Barron and Creator/AnthonyMichaelHall as Audrey and Russ seem closer than a normal set of siblings would be, which led to speculation they had an off-screen relationship.
24	* {{Narm}}: The movie gets most of its comedy from sticking relatively normal people in exaggerated situations and seeing how they react. This makes it much more jarring when the legendary Creator/JohnCandy appears as a Wally World security guard and behaves like a living cartoon character, with exaggerated speech patterns, movements, and reactions.
25	* NauseaFuel: At one point, the family stops at a picnic area to have some lunch. As they're eating the sandwiches, they notice they're soggy. And then it hit them that Aunt Edna's dog urinated on the food. The family is understandably disgusted, but Edna just shrugs and continues eating. Ugh.
26	* SignatureScene: Clark is getting distracted by the girl in the red Ferrari.
27	* TearJerker: Aunt Edna was a mean old lady, but it's hard not to feel sad for her when she learns that Clark accidentally killed her dog. It's worse in the original short story, where he's not even a mean dog.
28	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The film has the feel of the early 1980s:
29	** The ugly-ass Clark Griswold car would be much rarer to find in the 2020s.
30	** Some of the Griswolds' misadventures can be prevented by having a GPS or a cellphone, which were in their infancy in the early 80s.
31	** Los Angeles' skyline has changed considerably since the early 80s. A modern-day viewer would be perplexed by the absence of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Bank_Tower_(Los_Angeles) the U.S. Bank Tower]], which wasn't finished until 1989.
32	** The computer and video game console at the beginning of the movie make clear the time the movie was made.
33	* ValuesDissonance:
34	** The whole sequence in the black neighborhood was pushing things even at the time, and comes off as horrendously racist now (though it's actually ''toned down'' from the equivalent scene in the original short story). Even Creator/HaroldRamis [[OldShame regretted the scene]].
35	** Clark holding the security guard at gunpoint with a [=BB=] gun isn't so funny with the rise in mass shootings in the 21st century. Nor would Ellen joking about him going on a killing spree be taken so lightly, as discussed above. While it is played for comedy, the park owner forgiving Clark so quickly comes across as unbelievable.
36	** Clark commits a severe violation of marital trust by checking out and skinny dipping with a random woman, yet Ellen is quick to forgive this and move on. What's even worse is his lying about his martial status just so he can hang out with the woman. With the objectification of women and adultery under greater scrutiny, Clark comes across as a pathetic creep, and Ellen would be more likely to file for divorce.
37	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Considering how the sequels have been popular family favorites for a while, not to mention the general premise of a dad taking his family for a road trip, it's easy to forget this movie is rated R and meant for an adult audience - just in case the nudity, death, animal cruelty and neglect, an old woman dying and the hero waving a gun around didn't make it obvious.
38	* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Clark not only goes skinny dipping with a random woman but lies to that woman about having a family and takes someone hostage so he can go to an amusement park. And yet, Ellen is highly tolerant of these shenanigans and never even considers a threat of divorce.

Context YMMV / NationalLampoonsVacation