And I mean no-brainer in the best possible sense! It seems whenever I'm down, Dad shoots out to HMV and picks me up a nice, cheesy 80s movie out of the £5 section - this time it was The Great Outdoors and boy, did it cheer me up! A major reason to love this movie is, of course, dearly departed John Candy who is impossible to dislike. In this film he plays Chet Ripley, a wholesome family man who has his vacation ruined by the in-laws crashing in uninvited. It is not just Candy who puts in a fine performance. Dan Ackroyd is great as sleazy, posing, Roman Craig - a semi yuppy with a penchant for barbecued lobster tails and trimming his nostrils! Annette Bening is also convincing as Kate Craig, Roman's spoiled but lonely wife. Yes, she is also the mum from American Beauty - I squawked this rather loudly while watching. Her role here is far simpler, but she is still on top form with some hilarious lines - spin cycle, anyone?! Stephanie Faracy comes across as pleasant and extremely likable in the role of Connie Ripley, and the kids in the movie are great - I thought the youngest boy Benny was especially funny, especially in the 'bear dump' scene. The film starts and continues brilliantly - not having a plot as such - but this is actually a good thing. Rather than bogging us down in a story we're rather presented with a series of highly amusing set - pieces: the hysterical water ski scene. The bear dump. The old man's birthday. Chet's 'Bear Story'. The bat swatting. The leech scene. I could go on but I simply wouldn't have time. This film works fabulously as this series of 'short stories' - it's almost like a character study, and the effect is great, so one wonders why John Hughes had to write in the tacky subplot of older boy Buck's dalliance with local tart-with-a-heart Cammie. It's dull fare, all in all, and Buck would be a perfectly likable character without the teen angst bit to go with it. The boredom of Buck mooching around with his sweetheart to the strains of cheese-guitar could have been cut down - or preferably cut out all together, leaving more room for developing other, shorter scenes - like the go-kart racing at the fun centre, or the pony trek through the woods. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing these parts of the film had been made longer. The film also flags a bit towards the end when the 'moral' of the tale comes out, and Roman and Chet have to do a silly death-dash through the woods after Roman's daughters. This again seems like John Hughes feeling he has to do his duty in giving us a bit of all-American schmaltz but it would've been great without it. All in all, a very funny, light movie to pick you up when you feel down. Oh, and the raccoons are a nice touch!
Review of The Great Outdoors
