Review: ‘The Great Outdoors’

Starring: John Candy, Dan Aykroyd and Annette Bening

Running time: 91 minutes

Rated: PG for language and adventure violence

Released: 1988

I’ve been on glorious vacation all this week, so I figured I’d share a little of the glory with you, courtesy of “The Great Outdoors.”

It’s a classic, old-school comedy that showcases two classic, old-school players — Dan Aykroyd and the late, great John Candy.

Candy plays Chet Ripley, a middle-class husband and father of two boys.

The film opens with the Ripley family driving to a lake resort where Chet and his wife, Connie (Stephanie Faracy), spent their honeymoon.

The goal? A peaceful, relaxing family vacation.

That’s the last thing they’re going to get, though.

Shortly after their arrival, Chet’s brother-in-law, Roman (Dan Aykroyd) shows up with his own family.

Roman is a yuppie investment broker, married to Kate (Annette Bening, in her first role) and father to twin girls who could seemingly have stepped out of “The Twilight Zone.”

Yeah, they’re that weird.

Roman and his family were supposed to vacation in Europe, but Roman decided to mix it up by dropping in unannounced and crashing Chet’s getaway instead.

Chet is not fond of this idea (and in fact threatens to leave several times), but Roman is family, so his hands are tied.

So a vacation that was supposed to be restful has now become a hilarious ruckus.

There’s no end to the mayhem that results from Roman showing up — from water-skiing disasters to bald-headed grizzly bears to garbage-stealing raccoons.

Amidst all the chaos, Chet struggles to have some father-son time with his son Buck, while all Buck wants to do is make time with a girl he met in town.

Chet is definitely going to have a memorable vacation, but for all the wrong reasons. And just maybe, when the dust settles, he’ll have a few decent memories to take with him.

“The Great Outdoors” plays to Candy and Aykroyd’s strengths. The shticky, slapsticky comedy they do so well works great and is amplified by the fact that they’re working together.

Two of my favorite scenes involve Chet deciding to accept the challenge of eating a 96-ounce steak at a local restaurant and Chet reacting to hearing that Roman decided to make a goat-cheese pizza.

Both of those scenes are hilarious simply because of the way Candy plays them. He gets a look of shock and awe on his face like no other comedian I’ve ever seen. If you’ve never noticed it before, pay close attention when you watch this movie because it’ll only add to your enjoyment of it.

That’s not to say that Aykroyd doesn’t have his moments. What I mean is that he lays that Chicago accent on extra thick this time around. Basically, anything he says, even when he’s trying to be serious, comes out sounding like a joke because of how he talks.

Aside from the two stars, another great thing about a movie like this is nostalgia.

Personally, it makes me reminiscent of the family vacations I went on as a kid.

Watching Chet and Roman’s families get together and share in each other’s quirks really makes me think of how my family is when we all get together.

“The Great Outdoors” is a raucous comedy with a fantastic cast that will deliver genuine belly laughs from the very beginning until the very end.

What more could you ask for from a vacation movie?

The Movie Dude, Joe Altomere of Fort Myers, grew up in his parents’ video store in Plantersville, Texas. He owns close to 2,000 DVDs and Blu-ray discs and considers that only the start of his collection. E-mail him at jaltomere@yahoo.com.