Jack Chester is an overworked air traffic controller who is told to take some time off over the summer and decides to take his family away to the beach. It doesn't all go to plan though as he is constantly hit with many problems along the way.
This was John Candy's first leading role in a film and he does very well in what is a pretty bland film. The Chester family don't seem to have any good luck at all which is shown as things get worse and worse as they attempt to have a good time. Having to queue for hours in a restaurant only for a local celebrity to push in front of them after the two hours they waited, this man was a yachtsman and that was the start of a rivalry with Jack.
Moving all of their things into the wrong house and then ending up next door to the lifeguards, something Jack did not want at all especially considering his daughters interest in them! Other than all of that and small little things happening to the family, it doesn't really have a whole lot going for the film to be brutally honest. I will say that when Jack got sunburnt was pretty much the funniest thing to happen, falling asleep in the sun is never a good idea at all.
John Candy is still loveable enough as the very stressed out dad who wants nothing more than his family to have a nice holiday. That is never going to happen in this type of comedy film though is it, let's face it. Something you have to go into with an open mind in terms of don't expect much from it, luckily I did that so wasn't disappointed when it was pretty much well nothing.
It seems as though 1980s films were filled with comedies like this one and a few gems came from that year, but this is certainly not one of them. It must be due to the amount of comedy films that were released with a lot of the same actors in them as well. Therefore, you don't need to rush and watch this one. I managed to see it on Sky Cinema and download it from on demand. Part of the watch anything and everything that John Candy is in week! Which has been both good and bad in all honesty, still a few more to go when I add in Netflix and Amazon Video!
