National Lampoon's European Vacation (1985)

National Lampoon’s European Vacation is the kind of comedy that turns a postcard-perfect trip into a gleeful parade of mishaps, and that’s exactly its charm: it’s less about “seeing Europe” than watching the Griswolds collide with it at full Clark Griswold velocity. Amy Heckerling keeps the pace breezy and the vibe sunlit, letting the scenery do some of the punchline work while Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo sell the chaos with a warm, bickering chemistry that feels like a real marriage under stress. The humor leans heavily on big, visual set pieces and culture-clash awkwardness, the sort of stuff that plays like a travelogue filtered through slapstick and secondhand embarrassment. It’s not for everyone—some jokes are very much of their era and there’s a bit of sexual content and a brief kidnapping threat—but if you want a light, silly, globe-trotting laugh with a consistently playful spirit, it’s an easy ticket to punchline tourism.

National Lampoon’s European Vacation is clearly aiming for a loud, goofy postcard tour where the Griswolds barrel through Europe and everything that can go wrong does—often in big, slapstick set pieces. The problem is it plays more like a string of uneven sketches than a real story, with predictable beats, broad stereotypes, and stretches where the pacing drags between the “big” gags. If you want the sharper bite and consistent laughs of the first Vacation, this one may feel like a diluted sequel that mistakes noise for comedy. That said, Chevy Chase’s commitment to clueless-dad chaos and a few memorable physical-comedy moments can still land if you’re in the mood for silly, dated 80s humor and don’t mind some sexual content and a surprisingly tense kidnapping subplot.