Unfortunately, a few days before writing these lines, there was no great unique actor Robin Williams. The role in this film for objective reasons can not be ranked as iconic, for one simple reason. In place of Dan’s new father, it is easy to imagine several comedic actors of the appropriate age. The same can be said about the hero of John Travolta - nothing stands out from the general background of the representatives of the genre.
The ideological basis of the film is not played for the first time, and in this case, it is worth admitting, there are several original ideas. Deep disclosure of the character and relationships of fathers and children, should not be expected. This is not an instructive or edifying project, just an attempt to give the viewer a smile in the space of an hour and a half at the screen, without any cultural value. Moments in which children blur in a smile, can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but they are enough for carefree time spent at the screen.
The obvious advantages of the film can be attributed to the summer atmosphere, supplemented by an abundance of green tones, a foray into nature and a scene in the zoo. In the rest, it is quite, as it is customary to say, a passing film, without the conditional mark "required to watch." You won’t regret spending time on one acquaintance with the story in a friend’s campaign.
There is nothing eternal in the world and sooner or later everything comes to its logical end. The career of such brilliant actors as Robin Williams and John Travolta was also not eternal, the peak of the “golden era” of their careers has long been behind them and no matter how hard these actors try, they can not return their former youth, popularity and success. But it is in conjunction with the director Walt Becker they certainly manage to shine. To shine brightly and unambiguously shake the old with great ease.
Since, what do not tell other viewers and what shortcomings in the picture do not look for, Walt Becker definitely managed to shoot one of the funniest and hottest comedies of recent years. Of course, the film is devoid of any uniqueness and originality that would turn this film into an unambiguous masterpiece of the genre of comedy, but the creators of the picture certainly managed to collect the image of something insanely bright, charismatic, insane and even funny. At the same time, providing the viewer with a considerable number of truly bright moments. Whether it’s with a frozen smile of Travolta’s character on the likeness of the Joker’s face performed by Jack Nicholson, a scene with hallucinations of Williams’ character, or a number of other scenes that cannot but be remembered.
Becker did not manage to repeat the success and quality of his previous work “Real Boars”, but the film wins with its certain individuality and originality. After all, this film follows the legacy of such films as “Three men and a baby”, we see a rather fascinating story of the formation of inveterate womanizers and singles into real fathers who are ready to give everything for their children. The film is a rather interesting propaganda of family values and all the charms of relations with children, who are always able to make life brighter, more interesting and fun. After all, children are the flowers of life and it is these flowers that ultimately become the main catalyst for events in this picture.
Robin Williams and John Travolta play not the best images in their career, but do it with dignity and as if despite the quality of the latest works of both actors. Williams suddenly emerges in a more serious way than expected, and Travolta as always plays out well in the image of a charming careerist who does not see the sense of responsibility.
7 out of 10
So vacation is not the best and ideal example of comedy for the whole family, but certainly a very easy, fascinating, partly instructive and insanely funny picture, the humor of which is equally understandable and infectious for viewers of small ages and adults.
If we immediately talk about the advantages of “Old Dogs” (or “Such a vacation”, as translated in the Russian box office), the film can be called kind, bright, cheerful, sometimes funny and instructive. This comedy is perfect for family viewing. But, no matter how, the film is stuffed with stamps, which are quite annoying, and this gives an excuse to look at it from the other side.
Well, John Travolta and Robin Williams did a good pair. These guys got a little ruffled and, so to speak, decided to fool around, but it was not over. In the movie added drama and it became somewhat touching. I don’t think it required a great performance, but the guys played pretty well! All the other characters in this tape fade into the background and focus on them very rarely. By the way, Travolta, taking the opportunity, gave the opportunity to participate in the film of his daughter – Ella Blue Travolta, who played Dan’s daughter and proved herself well!
The plot of “Old Dogs” has long been familiar to the viewer, so there is nothing new here. Although, the film itself leaves positive emotions, despite the fact that about one-third of the time was boring and sluggish. I believe that such an idea could be implemented much better, making the plot much more interesting, and comedy many times more fun and cheerful, especially with such excellent actors in the lead role.
In general, this creation Walt Becker recommended by me for viewing. But for the “spoiledness”, stamps, banal dialogues and unwillingness to make such a project better.
5.5 out of 10
Honestly, I expected more from this movie. Such good actors are involved. Yeah, and it's not a bad idea. Quite good data was for the family tape, watching which, you could relax. However, let's go in order.
I'm not gonna write the story. It's simple. For this genre, just right. Nothing new, but it's not a bad idea. It's a pity the implementation is pretty bland. If, initially, the film is gaining momentum, then, by the middle, it is very deflated. The second half of the picture, personally, I watched reluctantly. Just to see the standard run-down ending. However, do not consider my words as a persistent attempt to discourage you from watching. The movie is worth a look. Here, there are a couple of funny episodes that made me laugh. But that’s not enough to call this movie great. Rather, in front of you, a sturdy one-off middle man. Shame. Finish the scriptwriters plot, and we would get a very high-quality entertainment product. In the film there is a couple – three good musical compositions. A couple of well-shot fragments. But that's not enough. Separately, I should say about the actors. The duo of Travolta and Williams, of course, turned out colorful. But, they play boring old men, trying to cheer the audience. Robin Williams is a great choice for family movies and comedies. A talented actor. And he played well. But the trouble is his hero. He's not giving Robin the best he can. Travolta looked good next to a colleague. However, it cannot be said that he tried very hard. Again, some uninteresting hero. He's a charismatic actor. Not his role, I guess. Seth Greene is here. But, his stupid look and open mouth, I wasn't hooked. Also in the picture is the daughter of John Travolta. She played badly, frankly. Well played by Kelly Preston. I remember. Well, that's about it. The cast is good, but they got uninteresting roles.
In the end, again, the film was a one-off. If you have nothing to watch, you can pay attention to this picture. Personally, I have no desire to review, even individual episodes. I looked and forgot. I have no regrets about the time spent. Thank you very much.
The young director Walt Becker began his film career with a successful youth comedy The Party King, in the next film of the same genre he took the lead actor Ryan Reynolds, and then left the genre of comedy, but he did not touch the youth, deciding to shoot a movie about older people, and these actors were already famous performers. For example, in "Real boars" their whole galaxy and from there migrated John Travolta into a new project Becker "So Vacation", which was originally translated identical to the original name - "Old dogs".
This is the biggest oddity of the film, I mean the new role of Travoltas. Well, he is not suitable for the role of old robbers, and their tandem with Robin Williams, if not for the talent of both actors, would have failed at all. To imagine that they are childhood friends is very difficult, if not impossible. With difficulty and Travolta and Williams pulled something out of themselves so that the tape with a wild bang did not fail. This is what the actors were doing, which undoubtedly influenced the overall impression of the picture, when such a component as the acting was tortured and poorly disclosed. I only laughed when John Travolta smiled with a crazy smile.
And here too, a lot was weak and tortured: places for laughter in the film – count on the fingers, a little laughed when the hero of Robin Williams gave with a sweep of the trunk lid on the hands of the model, laughed when Travolta drank the wrong pills, smiled when Seth Green sang karaoke in the national Japanese costume, and also when he was in the arms of a hefty gorilla, but could not think of anything else, what is so superficial, created out of cliche? I was saddened by the presence of two great actors on such a weak project, so why did they agree to participate? I didn’t expect it to be so bad.
"So great vacation" - very quickly and easily weathered from memory film, it leaves some dose of positive, but very briefly and is another banal film in the mainstream of the comedy-melodramatic genre about American family values.