Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is ready to treat the family to a completely new sort of vacation - in Las Vegas! Of course, if you know Clark, you know that he doesn't always think things through, and though his plan this time around seems to be to spend time with his family (as always), he is sidetracked (as always) by the allure of making easy money at the gambling tables.
Naturally he is joined by his lovely wife Ellen (Beverly D'Angelo), and they also bring along kids Audrey (Marisol Nichols) and Rusty (Ethan Embry). As with the prior films in the "series", in this go-round where the kids are played by different actors than their predecessors.
Once arriving in family-friendly Las Vegas, Clark rapidly begins to lose money, because he really isn't a very good gambler. You may actually think that he isn't a very good father or husband, and you may be right on that point, but give him a chance. Luckily, Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) shows up in the casino, and that turns things around.
Not Clark's luck, mind you, but the humor. Just as in the prior movies, Cousin Eddie adds a certain levity to the proceedings. Perhaps it is the plate in his head, or the fact that his family lives in a trailer on a former nuclear testing ground, or that they cook chicken on a rock in the yard. Say what you will about Cousin Eddie, but his motives cannot be questioned. When he finds out that Clark has lost more than twenty thousand dollars, he promptly volunteers his own meager funds to help. Unfortunately, the stash is buried in his yard in various containers, so they have to dig for a while to find much of anything, but it's the thought that counts.
As Clark's luck goes bad, the family's luck improves. Ellen meets her longtime idol Wayne Newton (playing himself), while Russ gets himself a fake driver's license and starts winning cars at slot machines and then meets a quasi-mob character who takes him under his wing to get massages and learn how to dress. Audrey, meanwhile, learns from Eddie's daughter Vicki (Shae D'Lyn) how to party.
Everything comes to a head as Clark loses money, even at the off-strip casino, where he can't buy a win. He loses games like "guess the number" and "choose a hand", and suddenly has a revelation. It's his family that's important. So he returns to town to rescue his family, which doesn't really need rescuing, and just as they are about to reunite, he tells them just how much money he's lost. So they gather up their last $2 and go to play a round of Keno to get it all back.
The one round of Keno is a bust, but sitting next to the nice Mr. Ellis (Sid Caesar) was a stroke of luck. The old man just needed a family, and that's what they gave him. He died, but before he did, he won that game of Keno, and with it, they scored $30,000, enough to win back everything Clark lost. That, couple with the four cars Rusty won, gives them a sizable profit to return to Chicago.
The Bottom Line: The venerable Vacation franchise is wearing thin with this installment - especially as Chevy Chase ages to the point of believability (worsened by the fact that his children don't seem age at all). Yet somehow the formula continues to work here. I'm not sure if it could deliver another winner, but at least in this go-round, it's worth a viewing.
Rated PG for sensuality, language and thematic elements.
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