THE GREAT OUTDOORS (1988)
Good evening. How's it going? Listen, girls... uh... as your father, I feel it incumbent upon me to set the record straight on the validity of the tale which Uncle Chet shared with us this evening. I know that a terrifying story like that coming from the mouth of a recognized authority figure could be traumatizing for kids like yourselves; I know that, because I had a similar experience with my uncle Roy and a story he used to tell, about a family who went into the woods and was attacked by a band of escaped Army psychiatric patients who'd been subjected to violent, hellish, torturous behavior-modification experiments…
In this comedy, Chet (played by John Candy) takes his wife Connie (played by Stephanie Faracy) and their two kids to their old honeymoon cabin the “Loons Nest”. Apparently it’s somewhere in the woods of Wisconsin (although the movie was shot in California). Their outdoor adventure and family time plans get interrupted when his brother-in-law Roman (played by Dan Aykroyd) shows up with his wife Kate (played by Annette Bening). Roman is kind of a show off and starts to take over the entire vacation by presenting better and more over the top outings than Chet’s old-fashioned nostalgia based family time. Through various mishaps the two families work out most of their issues but can they fight off a bat, leeches, raccoons and a blood thirsty man-eating bear?
This role for John Candy is one of my favorite of his in the entire arsenal of movies he’s done. Partly because he reminds me of the dad I wish I would have had and a bit of some of the men I was fortunate enough to have in my own life. His slow decent into madness regarding Roman’s creepy daughters is legendary. Chet also kills me in the sense that he reminds me of some of the over bearing jerks my dad knew and that I ran into both at school and work.
Both that actors playing Chet’s sons are pretty great for the roles. There is also a bit of an un-needed summer love story in this one, but we are dealing with teens here, so its too be expected. In a movie with tons of laughs and great moments, a few of my favorite scenes involve the bat chase and Chet’s over the top bear story that ended up keeping Roman’s daughters up all night.
My one complaint doesn’t have to do with the movie, but rather the promotional team. This was another movie where the theatrical trailer contained scenes that never ended up in the movie. If you read a lot of my reviews, you know that’s a huge pet peeve of mine.
By today’s standards this movie is probably considered flawed or what the crap ever, mostly because some of the story line might seem dated, but I really don’t care. It was even panned by critics when it came out (because a lot of critics in the 80’s had sticks up their butts, even ones I liked) and didn’t make a box office profit. However fans over the years have come to love this fantastic movie which is essentially a comedy classic at this point. For both the family elements, and situational humor, I am going to give this movie a 5 out of 7, but I can see why others would rate it even higher.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF HUGHES ENTERTAINMENT AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless. Until next time.
Comments
Post a Comment