Rusty Griswold Takes New Generation to Wally World in ‘Vacation’

Sandra Miska

A new generation of Griswolds is hitting the road, and you can bet there will be plenty of bumps and laughs along the way.  “Vacation” is making its way to theaters.

This newest “Vacation” isn’t a remake of the 1983 film, but rather a fifth installment in the “National Lampoon Vacation” series.  It follows an adult Rusty Griswold (Ed Helms) and his family.  Following in the footsteps of his father Clark (Chevy Chase), Rusty, along with his wife Debbie (Christina Applegate) and two sons James (Skyler Gisondo) and Kevin (Steele Stebbins), hits the road on a cross-country road trip to the amusement park Walley World before it closes forever.

The new “Vacation” features Chase and his on-screen wife Beverly D’Angelo reprising their roles, as well as Leslie Mann as their adult daughter Audrey, Chris Hemsworth as Audrey’s flirty anchorman husband Stone Crandall, and Charlie Day as a river-rafting guide.  Keegan-Michael Key and Regina Hall are the parents in an idyllic family that is friends with the Griswolds.

“Vacation” is the directorial debuts of actor John Francis Daley and his writing partner Jonathan M. Goldstein. Daley got his start as adorable geek Sam Weir on the short-lived but memorable TV series “Freaks and Geeks.” He most recently played psychologist Lance Sweets on “Bones.”  Goldstein has a quite a different background.  A Harvard Law graduate, he left the legal profession after a few years to move Los Angeles and pursue a writing career.

Daley left “Bones” this past fall after being on the hit series for seven years to direct “Vacation.”  At the time, he spoke of this tough decision with TVLine.

“The directing job was not something that I could walk away from. It was such a huge opportunity.  It feels like a good next step in my career and my life; I always dreamed of being a director.  So to be able to do something like this on such a huge scale —it’s a huge studio movie — it’s definitely not something I could turn my back on.  It was a sacrifice for sure.”

“Vacation” opens nationwide July 29.