It's getting so you can spot a John Hughes script from fifty miles off anymore.
"The Great Outdoors" is his, he'd have trouble disowning this one. It has his earmarks all over it:
1) Slapstick chaos ("Home Alone")
2) Teen love ("Pretty in Pink")
3) Animals with human tendencies ("101 Dalmatians")
4) Thick-headed adults (just about all his movies)
And, of course, there are laughs to be had here. Candy and Aykroyd as the feuding brothers are extremely funny and their chemistry works very well here. Faracy and Bening (!) do well as their long-suffering wives. Even Prosky serves up laughs as the campground proprietor.
But you have to feel sorry for that poor bald bear in the end (get it?).
Seven stars. Time-tested Hughes humor and a solid cast to set it off just right. Good use of raccoons, too.
"The Great Outdoors" is his, he'd have trouble disowning this one. It has his earmarks all over it:
1) Slapstick chaos ("Home Alone")
2) Teen love ("Pretty in Pink")
3) Animals with human tendencies ("101 Dalmatians")
4) Thick-headed adults (just about all his movies)
And, of course, there are laughs to be had here. Candy and Aykroyd as the feuding brothers are extremely funny and their chemistry works very well here. Faracy and Bening (!) do well as their long-suffering wives. Even Prosky serves up laughs as the campground proprietor.
But you have to feel sorry for that poor bald bear in the end (get it?).
Seven stars. Time-tested Hughes humor and a solid cast to set it off just right. Good use of raccoons, too.