Film

National Lampoon's European Vacation

Name: National Lampoon's European Vacation
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
Released: 1985
Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Dana Hill, Jason Lively, Victor Lanoux

Comedy
Light-hearted

The Griswolds take their particular brand of American chaos across Europe in this gleeful, anything-goes comedy. Chevy Chase stumbles through France, Germany, and Italy with the kind of escalating desperation that only comes when your family is both unwanted and unstoppable. Structured like a highlight reel of disasters, it's peak '80s comedy: loose, puerile, and genuinely funny.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy broad, sweaty slapstick where a family keeps making the same bad decisions with total conviction, and you find a loud, escalating mess funnier than a clever one.

Skip it if you want sharp plotting or a gentle, observant take on travel; this is a series of exaggerated set pieces, and the jokes lean hard on louder, cruder gags than subtle ones.

What it asks of you: Under ninety-five minutes, it moves in quick bursts of chaos with little breathing room, and it wants you to laugh at its characters rather than sympathise with them.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

National Lampoon's Vacation1983

The original Griswold adventure and the template for everything that follows. It's tighter than its sequel but equally committed to the bit, with some of the sharpest comic writing of Chase's career. Essential groundwork.

But Relies heavily on dated references and a particular breed of '80s humor that doesn't always translate. Some jokes crater completely.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles1987

John Hughes' masterpiece of buddy comedy friction. Steve Martin and John Candy bicker across America with genuine warmth underneath the chaos. It's got the same road-trip energy but sharper writing and real stakes.

But Slides into genuine pathos in places, which some find manipulative. Not pure comedy throughout.

Flirting with Disaster1996

Ben Stiller as an adoptee searching for his birth parents with a road trip, pregnant wife, and incompetent handler in tow. The mayhem builds with perfect precision and the whole cast seems to be having a blast improvising around the chaos.

But The humor lands squarely in awkwardness-cringe territory. If you don't find discomfort funny, you'll check out fast.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from National Lampoon's European Vacation

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

A Fish Called Wanda1988

Both are built on the idea of people being thoroughly out of place in Europe, but where Griswold accepts the chaos, Wanda tries to control it—and fails because you can't.

Starts as caper comedy with a real plot, then reveals itself as something far smarter about desire, jealousy, and people destroying themselves through compulsion. Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin are all performing at a level European Vacation doesn't reach, but the DNA is there.

But It's structured as a mystery-thriller underneath the comedy, which means it has to make actual plot sense. Doesn't have the loose, anything-goes spirit you might be craving.

Animal House1978

The original National Lampoon comedy that launched the whole enterprise. It's gleefully anarchic in ways that feel genuinely transgressive, with jokes that still land because they're built on real character observation underneath the debauchery.

But It's explicitly crude and offensive by design, sometimes in ways that feel dated and sour. Not for the easily offended.

Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd swap lives at Christmas in this genre-perfect comedy-caper. The plot mechanics are satisfying, the humor mixes high and low, and both leads are in excellent form. Endlessly quotable.

But Hasn't aged perfectly in terms of some racial attitudes, even within the comedy itself. The tone sometimes feels at odds with what it's saying.

Porky's1981

The spiritual predecessor to European Vacation: a shaggy ensemble comedy that doesn't care about plot coherence, just sustained mayhem. If you love the idea of watching a bunch of characters fail repeatedly, this delivers with real affection.

But It's basically a series of crude pranks and sexual humor with minimal character development. Some find it tedious rather than funny.

Vacation2015

A soft reboot that inherits the Griswold name and structure with Ed Helms doing a credible earnest-dad turn. It's kinder to its characters than you might expect and has some genuinely clever callback jokes for franchise fans.

But It's fundamentally less funny than what came before, and the kinder approach undercuts the anarchic spirit that made the originals work.

Nothing but Trouble1991

A Chevy Chase vehicle that's genuinely weird and unhinged, with Dan Aykroyd in grotesque makeup running a bizarre small town. It's the pursuit of chaos without restraint, the spiritual endpoint of European Vacation's logic taken further.

But It's unfunny more often than not and actively unpleasant in tone. Interesting as a failure, but not enjoyable.

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday1953

Both films are structured as a series of tourist mishaps, but Hulot is the French counterpart—the bumbler encountering his own country. It's the cosmic joke inverted: sometimes you're the foreigner, sometimes you're Monsieur Hulot.

Jacques Tati's silent-era visual comedy about a bumbling Frenchman on holiday, told almost entirely without dialogue. It's pure observation of how people fail at leisure, but approached with such warmth and formal precision that it becomes genuinely moving. A masterclass.

But It's paced like a 1950s film, which means long stretches of observation with minimal plot movement. Requires patience and attentiveness. Feels like work to watch.