Great way to put it. In the first Vacation and Christmas Vacation it was just the right amount. In Vegas Vacation it was a little too much. In 2003 Island adventure it was waaaaaay too much.
@@stoopidapples1596 yeah same here. I'm the same age as Rusty, the son in that movie, and I've been watching that movie since back when I was his age in the movie. So, yeah. I'm right there with ya 🤘
Actually, I think Movie Madness was supposed to be before Class Reunion, but Madness was such a mess with test audiences that Reunion came out a year before Madness, so perhaps the trailer was just released before that delay.
It almost would’ve been funnier if cousin Eddie in his own movie didn’t appear until 20 some odd minutes in and only stuck around for the end. He caused Audrey and his daughter to get ship wrecked. He gets lost on the island trying to not upset Clark and ends up accidentally and inadvertently saving the day.
I'm glad you went over the history of the National Lampoon brand. Don't know about anyone else, but I spent YEARS wondering what constituted a National Lampoons movie. It felt like there was some connective thread in the early days. But growing up on movies like Loaded Weapon and Senior Trip, I had no idea what connected them.
Yeah I was confused too, I think I had a vague idea that it was named after a magazine I think what happened was the people involved in the licensing were too dumb to know what lampooning was, so they just saw 'poon' and made toothless, tasteless 21st century raunch. man give me that 80s raunch anyday, where it feels really wholesome and you get to see everything.
Actually, nothing. What’s a pity and a shame is that it had great potential as a screen brand. But when Doug Kenney died and the writing staff (Beatts, O’Roarke, Chase, Hughes, etc) left for greener pastures, it gutted the creativity and sharp humor like a fish. It never recovered. And all Hollywood did was engage in necrophilia.
When you watch this video and you question if he snuck in some fake National Lampoon movies because a lot of them seem too ridiculous to be real films yet they are unfortunately.
I wish they were fake. I wish they had never sold out to Jim Jimirro. He did some good things at Disney, like helping to make their cable channel and home video divisions possible, but he had no business running an adult comedy magazine. Instead, he ran it into the ground. At least MAD Magazine cut their losses after *Up the Academy* which is probably *MAD TV* never even tried to turn their characters into feature film stars when even *All That* spawned *Good Burger,* which works if you think of Ed as a human proto-SpongeBob.
the odd thing was that Vegas Vacation didn't carry the National Lampoon's banner thought it was a legit entry in the Griswold universe. But somehow Christmas Vacation 2 was National Lampoon's lol
The national lampoons series definetly took a dive over the years, but imo christmas vacation the original is and always will be one of the greatest christmas movies of all time. The humor, the writing, the flow of it, was all done to pretty much perfection.
@@ralphwiggum1982 Vegas Vacation was the last one I could find some enjoyment out of and a few parts made me giggle, but for the most part imo. This series peaked with christmas vacation, the casting, the writing, everything about the movie was done about as well as it couldve been. I felt I knew these characters and could relate to them in the first 20 mins of the movie bc the writing was so well done
@@crush41gb the clip of them running is in the original vacation when they get to Wally World. The beer drinking is after Clark drives through the road closed sign and sends the Family Truckster airborn
Here's a bit of trivia: The 2000 film Meet the Parents was a remake of an 1992 indie film of the same name. Before the writers of that movie turned to Hollywood and remakes, they were trying to find distribution for their movie. After taking over Lampoon, J2 COmmunications was hoping to start a line of direct to video movies and was interested in making Meet the Parents their first project. A contract was signed, and the creators of the original Meet the Parents were eagerly awaiting the premiere of their movie on video when without a lot of warning, Lampoon pulled out of the deal, leaving the MTP creators high and dry. Considering where Lampoon wound up and where Meet the Parents wound up, it's probably fortunate for the creators of Meet the Parents that Lampoon did pull out of the deal
Man when you really think about it it's a minor miracle that Van Wilder turned out pretty decent. It's like they found a winning lottery ticket in the middle of all of those awful college movies.
@@CinemaBiohazard I mean it's two good films (I personally don't like Animal House, but that's personal taste, I'm not going to argue it's actually bad) with two mediocre ones in between, I would hardly call that "a lot of shit".
I worked at a video store from 2002-2006. You brought back so many memories with that list of awful direct-to-video Lampoon movies! I remember most of those sitting on the shelves. It felt like a new one came out every other week, and no one EVER rented them!
Yeah I was working at a blockbuster back then and I always wondered if those movies were somehow used to launder drug money or something because I can’t imagine those movies earn more than $100 legally.
Not surprised. I remember seeing Dorm Daze show up on HBO late at night, watching 2 minutes of it, and going "Who the hell would enjoy this?". Nice to know the answer is no one.
Yeah all the advertisements for that piece of shit - all the commercials I saw as a kid - shit... it ALL came FLOODING back like decade-old monkey vomit...
Dennis Quaid is a neighbor and is a fairly normal guy living a happy life. Randy’s situation is very sad considering how much joy his performances gave my childhood.
Very cool, Dennis always seems to be a stand up guy. Definitely sad to see Randy fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole, especially considering he was already an Oscar nominee before he was cast on SNL; the dude was a real talent.
Matty Simmons’ autobiography is fascinating, although he obviously didn’t have comedic chops himself. The man went from running the Diner’s Club, essentially the first credit card, to financing National Lampoon
If I recall, he described how the magazine devolved into something like a quarterly publication that, as one indicator of how different it was from the original, used only censored versions of swear words --- like, ""s - - t" or "f * * k". Sad!
@@danmagoo the Lampoon name has been sold to 3 or 4 different entities since he washed his hands of it. By the 90’s, the magazine was republishing stuff from the 70’s and 80’s in its pages. I wish there was a coffee table book of its highlights. I still have some key issues, like the October ‘82 OC & STIGGS special
@@J.S.3259 I have a DVD (or CD, I forget) with scans of all issues from the prime years. It's not well produced, but I'm glad to have it. Also, whenever I remember an especially good article and try to locate it on the disk, it's frustrating how often it turns out to be something from one of their "special" publications (not a regular magazine issue), and so not included. I agree with you that there ought to be a classy "best of" collection.
Many years ago, my girlfriend and I went to a Blockbuster Video to rent Van Wilder. But since BB never showed the actual covers of any of the movies (everything was in that same generic BB wrap with the name of the movie printed in the basic font on the side), we accidentally rented one of the terrible sequels. When we realized our mistake at home, we thought we'd try to make the best of it by watching it anyway. Those fifteen minutes before turning it off is time stolen from my life that I will never get back and I'm still salty about it all these years later.
Yeah it's one thing for a crappy movie to be a drama or something, then it's just boring. But a bad comedy can be utterly cringeworthy, annoying, *and* boring.
Totally legit: When the clip of John Belushi popped up and he yells "food fight", I smiled just thinking of that entire movie, like one of those smiles that's just totally involuntary and you just can't help but do it... then literally the next scene the smile was gone...
My high school did a John Belushi tribute one year. We had skits from different works he was in. I was the lucky one to be the John Belushi in the food fight scene. It was glorious. John Belushi was a great talent. I still remember Animal House fondly, especially with my little personal connection to it.
Just watching these curated clips is an endurance test in cringe. I can't imagine what it must've been like to actually watch the movies. Hats off to Hats Off Entertainment.
The guys at Red Letter Media watched it for a Best of the Worst and if I remember correctly they hated the film so much they put the disc through a paper shredder and sent an angry letter to WB.
I remember watching this on TV when it first aired. Pretty sure I resorted to channel-surfing away from it and only going back once in a while to remind myself of the classic cinematic masterpiece I was depriving myself of.
It's like bowel surgery, twice. No lie this fucking turd of a disaster stinks worse than a month old wino with a home permanent in the septic tank of a slaughterhouse.
If you get the chance and want to watch a cringe National Lampoons film not made by national Lampoon then may I suggest O.C. & Stiggs movie (1985) ua-cam.com/video/1SxNm40dWzI/v-deo.html
Finding out that they were just licensing off the "National Lampoon" name to random movies, makes me wish someone had took them up on that offer for like, something entirely not a Raunchy Comedy. Like a Serious Grounded Sci-Fi Flick or just a Slasher.
Am I the only one that unironically likes the idea of a comedy using the same set as a characters home and their "exotic" vacation. I think if it's done well it could be a really funny idea.
I actually do enjoy national Lampoon's Christmas vacation 2 cousin Eddie's island adventure. It is funny with Ed asner and Fred Willard and Eddie getting bit by a chimp. Found my copy at the drugstore on DVD. It is worth looking for a copy to watch .
That movie was so bad that my ex-wife, who was a HUGE Christmas Vacation fan, asked if we could just cut it off at the point where the shark was dragging their boat. I happily obliged!
@@greedojenkins9984 *lol* Nope! No kids, but I got the cats! And the house! And the judge offered to give me alimony, but I passed. She didn't have any money, so what is the point?
Back in the 1970s, during the time of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, National Lampoon used to be a cult comedy magazine that represented baby boomers who took on the idiocy and humor of their generation with their dark comedy and political satire. Today, it's just an endless mountain of terrible movies with sexual innuendos, outdated humor, and cheesy plot lines going nowhere.
Indeed. Other than the real Vacation films (Chase/DeAngelo) and Animal House, it is the only good National Lampoon film. Maybe VanWilder i haven't seen it. Just from clips they showed nothing else could possibly be good.
I think beinga direct parody of Lethal Weapon and other thrillers helped, rather than being a nebulous concept like 'the holidays'. They had a clear target. Still easy to do wrong, like Leslie Nielsen's post-Naked Gun parody films, but less likely to be utter trash. Script was good enough to attract Samuel L Jackson!
@@DenkyManner Yeah, the casting made the movie. The jokes were par for the course, but they were delivered so well and so straight that they resembled a Zucker Brothers movie, more specifically like the criminally underrated Top Secret!
It cracks me up. Back in 2005/2006, my roommate who had just graduated from college with a degree in film, got one of his first gigs working on a movie called (at the time) Homo Erectus, which he described as a Caveman comedy. It later turned into one of the really bad National Lampoon movies you mentioned here, The Stoned Age.
YES!!! I have been waiting for you to review this one, especially since you teased it in your lost Christmas Vacation video. It's one of those sequels I've been told is bad, but I've never seen a comprehensive review on it.
1) Recognition & respect for the magazine / Goodwill of Animal House & Vacation lasted until roughly 1995. 2) what did they get right? John Hughes, Harold Ramis, Belushi, Chevy Chase, and John Landis. In other words, they used to hire talent.
I introducted this to my kids as "hey, lets watch a really bad Christmas movie!" We were not disappointed. It was a great opportunity to discuss with them the reason why the jokes didnt land. Setup and payoff are completely missing. They tell us the dog stinks. Then people react to the dog stinking. In the original movies they would have had something happen earlier that led to the dogs problem, and we could all go OH I see whats coming... and see? I saw that coming. We love that in movies. The screenwriter didnt understand "show - dont tell". Worse still is how they keep cutting to the house flooding (a shallow reason to cut to snow remiding us this is a christmas movie), but never mention it when they return home. The punchines dont land because there is no setup/payoff. It's just slapstick gags that werent that funny to begin with.
I'm still angry that they tried to paint Clark and Ellen as total jerks (according to the people who stayed at their bed and breakfast) in the 2015 soft reboot when the intent of the OG Vacation series is that Clark is so bound and determined to get maximum vacation enjoyment that he ends up destroying everything around him. If anything, Clark shouldn't be anywhere near inhospitable, but trying way too hard to make the guests' stay as memorable as possible.
Poor Ed Asner and Fred Willard. I want to feed bad for Randy Quaid too but given his current condition helming a movie was probably the best thing that ever happened to him...
@@Geronimo_Jehoshaphat Check out his legal troubles over the past decade. The guy went nuts after his acting roles dried up. Now he claims to be a victim of the deep state because he can’t pay hotel bills, taxes, show up to court dates or register as a citizen in a foreign country. I feel sorry for the guy, his career slump obviously affected his mental health, but going off his Twitter rants, he’s turned into a hobo you avoid at the bus station.
What a great video. It really explains the decline of National Lampoon. Mostly the movie division. There was a lot of overlap between National Lampoon, early Saturday night live and Second City. They all recruited from the same place and poached the same talent.
@@MagicMan508 thats because everyone who started there ended up leaving to get rich somewhere else. The magazine, not the movies. There would be no Simpsons or SNL without TNL
Cousin Eddie is too much of a goofy slapstick character to be the star of his own movie a character like this only really works when he's opposite someone who plays it's straight
I think I agree with what you are trying to say, but I'm not sure it is said well. Chevy was often at his best with the slapstick. I don't think of Cousin Eddie as slapstick as much as parody or caricature.
Hey Max it’s Kaleb I’m just gonna cut to the chase I’m gonna make cinematic and I want you to do the voice of a character named kris Samson you want in
Nothing lasts forever. Great art is as much a sign of the times its created in, as the people who create it. The 70s and early 80s were a weird time. People made due and in some special cases, created something that stands the test of time. The sun has long set on that era, so best to start something new Hollywood! I wonder what the equivalent is today?
In 1983, my 14-year-old self somehow tricked my mother into letting me subscribe to National Lampoon Magazine with her Publisher's Clearing House entry form. Thus, I graduated from the Mad Magazine school of satirical comedy to a subversive new world... jokes, with nudity!
Thank you so much for reviewing this! I've always been so curious about Christmas Vacation 2 but couldn't bring myself to sit through it. You're doing the Lord's work!
I knew of animal house and the vacation movies and van wilder. But I had no idea those other flops existed. Until I found Christmas Vacation 2 in the $5 bin. I watched it once and forced myself to finish it.
Speaking of National Lampoon, I really enjoyed Will Forte as Doug Kenney in A Futile and Stupid Gesture. Does a good job there. I like Will Forte when he’s not playing Shaggy in SCOOB. Badly miscast there. But if you want to give an opinion on A Futile and Stupid Gesture, it’s on Netflix[in the US].
That movie was good although one complaint I would have is Doug’s death was kinda mishandled and ends up kinda looking like Chevy’s fault for not keeping a closer eye on him
The only complaint I have about that movie is how they had a nearly 50 year old Will Forte playing a college student who is supposed to be in his late teens/early twenties. Will Forte is a hilarious comedian and a really good serious actor (watch Nebraska) but he was miscast as a young Doug Kenney.
I watched this movie when it debuted on NBC in 2003. It came on right after they aired Christmas Vacation back then in the early 2000's Christmas Vacation only aired once or twice on NBC and could not be seen on any other network at the time. Now Christmas Vacation is seen 50 times on t.v every holiday season. This weird sequel was boring, stupid and forgettable. Never viewed it again and it was just now while watching this video on UA-cam I recall it.
The original National Lampoon films only worked because of the talent involved at every conceivable level: Writers, Directors, and of course the Actors themselves. When you have mediocre writers and untalented directors, you can have the best actors in the world and you are still going to have a crappy movie. Case in point, since I'm a big fan of the old universal horror movies, the only redeeming quality in some rather horrible films such as "The Ape Man" or "Spider Baby" was the inclusion of Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. As good of an actor as Randy Quaid is, etc--- you give him a horrible script for a film with a cheap budget it's still going to be a bad movie. Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all and Merry Christmas 😊
But that is how raunchy and r rated comedies work.. If they all have talent it becomes an unforgettable classic, if they all are just doing it for a check you get these kind of disasters.. Doesn't matter if you put good actors like randy Quaid or Cranston in them if nobody else gives a fuck about the project
It's seriously crazy what happened to this brand. Animal House was one of my dad's favorite films, and I used to watch it all the time with him before he died. Loaded Weapon was one of the first parody films that I got to appreciate cause I was old enough to get the jokes. How did it become a vehicle for off-brand raunch films?
Aside from Vacation, Van Wilder, and Loaded Weapon 1, there is 1 other National Lampoon's movie that contains a gem. I believe it was made for Showtime and called Favorite Deadly Sins. It's mostly forgettable, but there's a skit that basically takes Andrew Dice Clay's mid 90s comedy routine and turns it into a short film. It's probably my favorite thing Dice was in.
For some reason, your videos feel like they last way longer then their 20 minute run time but are also super entertaining to watch. It must be all the great information and examples you put into it.
its really interesting that despite their failures National Lampoon has courted some surprising talent for their crappy movies, I mean Bryan Cranston? the guys from Workaholics, and half of Jackass, I'm sure hidden in the bowels of the National lampoon's catalogue you would find a bunch of other actors making first time appearances that they would rather have you forget...
Eventually you should tackle National Lampoon's Last Resort (or Scuba School as it is sometimes called) with the two Coreys, or Loaded Weapon or Men In White.
I remember some number of years back, one of my uncles checked this one out, and later proclaimed it either as, the best, or his favorite of the Vacation movies. After about 5 or 10 years, last year I think it was, I found it at my local LA county public library, so decided well, if it's free, why not..... I won't say that it ruined my life or any other "earth-shattering" claim like that, but it is quite so the WORST movie I've ever seen, and I do wonder what is wrong with that uncle, to think that this could even remotely be better than Vegas Vacation, or European Vacation (and I love those two, European probably being the most underrated one).
When I graduated college I called their office to try to get a job and they told me the same thing. They said that they are basically a brand that companies buy the name and slap it on their movies. There’s no actual production anymore. Sad!
You're one of the best things on UA-cam man. I hope you're making a living from this because you make the most delightful content. Merry Christmas and keep up the awesome work.
I've never heard of this! my siblings and I were gonna go see christmas vacation in the theater the other day but it was like $15 because it was a movie party. if anyone sees this and isn't aware, your local theater most likely plays classic movies on a regular basis. I live in the Phoenix area and there are constantly theaters playing classic movies for like 5 or 10 bucks!
I find it interesting and ironic that your video on National Lampoons most likely generated more laughter than the collective movies in the last 20 years.
Cousin Eddie was like the right amount of salt on a meal.
You don't make an entrée out of salt.
Hal Stewart/Tighten: Exactly!
Exactly. And attempting to make him relatable is like trying to make salt taste sweet.
My brother does.
Great way to put it. In the first Vacation and Christmas Vacation it was just the right amount. In Vegas Vacation it was a little too much. In 2003 Island adventure it was waaaaaay too much.
All you ever talk about is salt
The first Christmas Vacation is still to this day, one of the funniest movies I have ever seen.
Amen to that
I never liked it at all.. Or airplane, animal house, naked gun or any of that just dumb comedy. Now caddy shack that's a funny movie.
I agree, the movie has had a strong hold on my family, we quote it all the time.
Have watched this every Christmas for my entire life. And I am not a child anymore for reference.
@@stoopidapples1596 yeah same here. I'm the same age as Rusty, the son in that movie, and I've been watching that movie since back when I was his age in the movie. So, yeah. I'm right there with ya 🤘
I like how Movie Madness is advertised as "the first movie from National Lampoon since Animal House," completely ignoring Class Reunion ever existed.
Actually, I think Movie Madness was supposed to be before Class Reunion, but Madness was such a mess with test audiences that Reunion came out a year before Madness, so perhaps the trailer was just released before that delay.
"Puzzled John Belushi" should always be a thing in your videos.
Yeah it's such an excellent reaction shot
He should get the real John Belushi to make a guest appearance in one of these videos.
@@ashblossomandjoyoussprung.9917 Well, I don't think he wants to dig up his grave...
Loaded weapon is hilarious so many quotable moments:
Cop: c'mon give us names
Bad guy: weren't your parents supposed to do that?
"Colt, I'm cold." 🤣
Luger! You came! "That's personal"!
Is that her? " No, that's her picture..."
"What does that mean?"
"It means i'm pretentious."
It almost would’ve been funnier if cousin Eddie in his own movie didn’t appear until 20 some odd minutes in and only stuck around for the end. He caused Audrey and his daughter to get ship wrecked. He gets lost on the island trying to not upset Clark and ends up accidentally and inadvertently saving the day.
That would require a screenwriter far more clever and skilled than the money they had for making "Christmas Vacation 2" could afford.
Audrey as the main character could have saved it, maybe, in the hands of a good screenwriter.
I'm glad you went over the history of the National Lampoon brand. Don't know about anyone else, but I spent YEARS wondering what constituted a National Lampoons movie. It felt like there was some connective thread in the early days. But growing up on movies like Loaded Weapon and Senior Trip, I had no idea what connected them.
Yeah I was confused too, I think I had a vague idea that it was named after a magazine
I think what happened was the people involved in the licensing were too dumb to know what lampooning was, so they just saw 'poon' and made toothless, tasteless 21st century raunch. man give me that 80s raunch anyday, where it feels really wholesome and you get to see everything.
This. Talk about selling out.
I never knew anything about it besides Christmas vacation 1 and my parents told me the others weren’t as good
Actually, nothing. What’s a pity and a shame is that it had great potential as a screen brand.
But when Doug Kenney died and the writing staff (Beatts, O’Roarke, Chase, Hughes, etc) left for greener pastures, it gutted the creativity and sharp humor like a fish. It never recovered. And all Hollywood did was engage in necrophilia.
@@dangelo1369 necrophilia would only be the desire to, they actually went through with it. Just saying, everyone gets that shit wrong.
When you watch this video and you question if he snuck in some fake National Lampoon movies because a lot of them seem too ridiculous to be real films yet they are unfortunately.
I had never heard of many of those, so yeah.
I wish they were fake. I wish they had never sold out to Jim Jimirro. He did some good things at Disney, like helping to make their cable channel and home video divisions possible, but he had no business running an adult comedy magazine. Instead, he ran it into the ground.
At least MAD Magazine cut their losses after *Up the Academy* which is probably *MAD TV* never even tried to turn their characters into feature film stars when even *All That* spawned *Good Burger,* which works if you think of Ed as a human proto-SpongeBob.
And someone, somewhere actually enjoys that dreck.
I honestly thought TV The Movie was just a movie poster gag in Drake & Josh, but nope it's real.
Vegas Vacation was a legitimate entry into the universe and very enjoyable. Definitely a "rental" but still a fun ride
vegas vacation til this day my favorite
You bite your tongue or me and Nick Papagiorgio are gunna be lookin for ya!
In fairness, that scene with Cousin Eddie & Clark at the sketchy casino was awesome.
Yeah, I agree, Vegas vacation works. Especially the subplot involving Rusty pretending to be the wealthy millionaire George Popadopolus.
the odd thing was that Vegas Vacation didn't carry the National Lampoon's banner thought it was a legit entry in the Griswold universe. But somehow Christmas Vacation 2 was National Lampoon's lol
The national lampoons series definetly took a dive over the years, but imo christmas vacation the original is and always will be one of the greatest christmas movies of all time. The humor, the writing, the flow of it, was all done to pretty much perfection.
National lampoons went down the toilet when they started making nothing but unfunny sex comedies even van wilder i thought was just terribly unfunny
@@ralphwiggum1982 Vegas Vacation was the last one I could find some enjoyment out of and a few parts made me giggle, but for the most part imo. This series peaked with christmas vacation, the casting, the writing, everything about the movie was done about as well as it couldve been. I felt I knew these characters and could relate to them in the first 20 mins of the movie bc the writing was so well done
National Lampoon was nothing without John Belushi or Chevy Chase. Just a bunch of cocky Harvard Men flexing and posturing.
After Chevey Chase stopped making the vacation movies, I think that's where Natonal Lampoon started dying off.
And even then most movies after Christmas Vacation were trash.
John Hughes had nothing to do with any of the post-Christmas Vacation films. They’re Non-canon shit
@@J.S.3259
Canon? 😆 😆 😆
Was the clip of Russ and Clark a deleted scene from Vacation because I don't remember it and I'm not sure if it's on my special edition dvd?
@@crush41gb the clip of them running is in the original vacation when they get to Wally World. The beer drinking is after Clark drives through the road closed sign and sends the Family Truckster airborn
Here's a bit of trivia: The 2000 film Meet the Parents was a remake of an 1992 indie film of the same name. Before the writers of that movie turned to Hollywood and remakes, they were trying to find distribution for their movie. After taking over Lampoon, J2 COmmunications was hoping to start a line of direct to video movies and was interested in making Meet the Parents their first project. A contract was signed, and the creators of the original Meet the Parents were eagerly awaiting the premiere of their movie on video when without a lot of warning, Lampoon pulled out of the deal, leaving the MTP creators high and dry. Considering where Lampoon wound up and where Meet the Parents wound up, it's probably fortunate for the creators of Meet the Parents that Lampoon did pull out of the deal
Sort of like "if you let someone borrow $20 & you never see them again, it was money well spent".
Man when you really think about it it's a minor miracle that Van Wilder turned out pretty decent. It's like they found a winning lottery ticket in the middle of all of those awful college movies.
I get the feeling an example of National Lampoon's fate was in the first four movies they made: a few hits among a LOT of shit. A lot of it.
I had no fuckin idea van wilder was even called national lampoons van wilder. I thought it was literally just "van wilder".
Van wilder is rewatchable for sure, Ryan Reynolds definitely makes it work
@@CinemaBiohazard I mean it's two good films (I personally don't like Animal House, but that's personal taste, I'm not going to argue it's actually bad) with two mediocre ones in between, I would hardly call that "a lot of shit".
Pretty sure the only reason it worked was because of Ryan Reynolds
I must have watched "Loaded Weapon" several hundred times. It was just hilarious!!!!!
I watched it all the time as a kid and then rewatched it just recently. It's still hilarious!
The scene where he is reading the magazine sticks with me... not the greatest moment, but I still love it
"quiet, i think we're being followed"
(reveals bad guys are in the back seat of their car)
Loaded Weapon 1* 😂
I love the bruce willis cameo haha!
I worked at a video store from 2002-2006. You brought back so many memories with that list of awful direct-to-video Lampoon movies! I remember most of those sitting on the shelves. It felt like a new one came out every other week, and no one EVER rented them!
Yeah I was working at a blockbuster back then and I always wondered if those movies were somehow used to launder drug money or something because I can’t imagine those movies earn more than $100 legally.
Not surprised. I remember seeing Dorm Daze show up on HBO late at night, watching 2 minutes of it, and going "Who the hell would enjoy this?". Nice to know the answer is no one.
Why would your boss even buy them?
Well it was a corporate video chain store, we didn’t really have a choice of what movies were sent to us
Baby Huey’s great Easter adventure looks like a nightmare I had
I saw that clip and suddenly decades of successful memory repression were undone like a house of cards.
@@azraelle6232 😂glad I’m not the only one
Yeah all the advertisements for that piece of shit - all the commercials I saw as a kid - shit... it ALL came FLOODING back like decade-old monkey vomit...
I'm pretty sure even that short clip caused me brain damage.
Imagine someone thinking it's a good idea to make a whole movie about a cheap looking mascot costume
Dennis Quaid is a neighbor and is a fairly normal guy living a happy life. Randy’s situation is very sad considering how much joy his performances gave my childhood.
Very cool, Dennis always seems to be a stand up guy. Definitely sad to see Randy fall down the conspiracy rabbit hole, especially considering he was already an Oscar nominee before he was cast on SNL; the dude was a real talent.
Matty Simmons’ autobiography is fascinating, although he obviously didn’t have comedic chops himself. The man went from running the Diner’s Club, essentially the first credit card, to financing National Lampoon
If I recall, he described how the magazine devolved into something like a quarterly publication that, as one indicator of how different it was from the original, used only censored versions of swear words --- like, ""s - - t" or "f * * k". Sad!
@@danmagoo the Lampoon name has been sold to 3 or 4 different entities since he washed his hands of it. By the 90’s, the magazine was republishing stuff from the 70’s and 80’s in its pages. I wish there was a coffee table book of its highlights. I still have some key issues, like the October ‘82 OC & STIGGS special
@@J.S.3259 I have a DVD (or CD, I forget) with scans of all issues from the prime years. It's not well produced, but I'm glad to have it. Also, whenever I remember an especially good article and try to locate it on the disk, it's frustrating how often it turns out to be something from one of their "special" publications (not a regular magazine issue), and so not included. I agree with you that there ought to be a classy "best of" collection.
Many years ago, my girlfriend and I went to a Blockbuster Video to rent Van Wilder. But since BB never showed the actual covers of any of the movies (everything was in that same generic BB wrap with the name of the movie printed in the basic font on the side), we accidentally rented one of the terrible sequels. When we realized our mistake at home, we thought we'd try to make the best of it by watching it anyway. Those fifteen minutes before turning it off is time stolen from my life that I will never get back and I'm still salty about it all these years later.
Yeah it's one thing for a crappy movie to be a drama or something, then it's just boring. But a bad comedy can be utterly cringeworthy, annoying, *and* boring.
Totally legit: When the clip of John Belushi popped up and he yells "food fight", I smiled just thinking of that entire movie, like one of those smiles that's just totally involuntary and you just can't help but do it... then literally the next scene the smile was gone...
My high school did a John Belushi tribute one year. We had skits from different works he was in. I was the lucky one to be the John Belushi in the food fight scene. It was glorious. John Belushi was a great talent. I still remember Animal House fondly, especially with my little personal connection to it.
@@bradwolf07 That's awesome :D
@@retron-64 There are just too many good scenes to choose just one!
Using reaction shots from a superior Lampoons film was a brilliant way to highlight the downfall
Armoires skepitic?!?
The Green Man foretold this day.
Just watching these curated clips is an endurance test in cringe. I can't imagine what it must've been like to actually watch the movies. Hats off to Hats Off Entertainment.
The guys at Red Letter Media watched it for a Best of the Worst and if I remember correctly they hated the film so much they put the disc through a paper shredder and sent an angry letter to WB.
I remember watching this on TV when it first aired. Pretty sure I resorted to channel-surfing away from it and only going back once in a while to remind myself of the classic cinematic masterpiece I was depriving myself of.
It's like bowel surgery, twice.
No lie this fucking turd of a disaster stinks worse than a month old wino with a home permanent in the septic tank of a slaughterhouse.
If you get the chance and want to watch a cringe National Lampoons film not made by national Lampoon then may I suggest O.C. & Stiggs movie (1985) ua-cam.com/video/1SxNm40dWzI/v-deo.html
Loaded weapon is great.
Finding out that they were just licensing off the "National Lampoon" name to random movies, makes me wish someone had took them up on that offer for like, something entirely not a Raunchy Comedy. Like a Serious Grounded Sci-Fi Flick or just a Slasher.
_National Lampoon's Midsommar_
National Lampoon's Hellraiser
"National Lampoon's The Lighthouse"
National Lampoon's Eraserhead
@@Sandlerverse Would still almost certainly be better than all of the Hellraiser sequels after 3.
Am I the only one that unironically likes the idea of a comedy using the same set as a characters home and their "exotic" vacation. I think if it's done well it could be a really funny idea.
I have a proposition: after this video, we forget this film exists.
I would like to find every copy and destroy it, including the film negative. I never need to hear horny Carl Fredricksen ever again.
Already done!
@@sourgrapekate1003 I have a copy and you'll never get it!
I actually do enjoy national Lampoon's Christmas vacation 2 cousin Eddie's island adventure. It is funny with Ed asner and Fred Willard and Eddie getting bit by a chimp. Found my copy at the drugstore on DVD. It is worth looking for a copy to watch .
I'll second that
That movie was so bad that my ex-wife, who was a HUGE Christmas Vacation fan, asked if we could just cut it off at the point where the shark was dragging their boat. I happily obliged!
We stopped after their bathroom exploded for no reason.
Did she get the house and kids
@@greedojenkins9984 *lol* Nope! No kids, but I got the cats! And the house! And the judge offered to give me alimony, but I passed. She didn't have any money, so what is the point?
@@EidlonesThis comment is hilarious outside of context, lol
Back in the 1970s, during the time of the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, National Lampoon used to be a cult comedy magazine that represented baby boomers who took on the idiocy and humor of their generation with their dark comedy and political satire.
Today, it's just an endless mountain of terrible movies with sexual innuendos, outdated humor, and cheesy plot lines going nowhere.
It’s the precursor to the Onion.
Yeah its always about Horny Collage people trying to get laid. American Pie tried pulling that stunt.
This is crazy, I didn’t even know they made a second Christmas vacation movie
There's reasons for that
"I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper cause it does just fine by it self ....my favorite cousin Eddie line ever 😂
Was recently wondering what happened to National Lampoon - it was a rebel icon growing up in the 70's and 80's, until, it wasn't. Thanks for this!
One fact you forgot to mention, Eddie is depicted 20 times dumber here than in any of the other movies
I still love Loaded Weapon 1. Its aged surprisingly well
Indeed. Other than the real Vacation films (Chase/DeAngelo) and Animal House, it is the only good National Lampoon film. Maybe VanWilder i haven't seen it. Just from clips they showed nothing else could possibly be good.
Agreed, I love Loaded Weapon to bits!
Loaded Weapon one I honestly feel is still kinda decent. Senior Trip which came after it is the only other 1990a NL movie I've seen
I think beinga direct parody of Lethal Weapon and other thrillers helped, rather than being a nebulous concept like 'the holidays'. They had a clear target. Still easy to do wrong, like Leslie Nielsen's post-Naked Gun parody films, but less likely to be utter trash. Script was good enough to attract Samuel L Jackson!
@@DenkyManner Yeah, the casting made the movie. The jokes were par for the course, but they were delivered so well and so straight that they resembled a Zucker Brothers movie, more specifically like the criminally underrated Top Secret!
I keep forgetting that this movie wasn't just a fever dream I had back during middle school... Kinda wish it was, tbh.
It cracks me up. Back in 2005/2006, my roommate who had just graduated from college with a degree in film, got one of his first gigs working on a movie called (at the time) Homo Erectus, which he described as a Caveman comedy. It later turned into one of the really bad National Lampoon movies you mentioned here, The Stoned Age.
Makes sense
None of the Vacation films after Christmas Vacation 1 can match the lofty heights achieved by Harold Ramis and John Hughes.
Amen
I remember when the Red Letter Media guys talked about this on one of their Best of the Worst episodes. It truly made them all miserable.
I was just about to go to their page HA
Ain’t they always miserable?
When Elves looks good by comparison….
*more miserable
That's where I heard about this "comedy"
I'm glad to see Loaded Weapon 1 getting the respect it deserves.
I'm still waiting for the sequel
YES!!! I have been waiting for you to review this one, especially since you teased it in your lost Christmas Vacation video. It's one of those sequels I've been told is bad, but I've never seen a comprehensive review on it.
The RLM crew going over it was enough to keep me away from it
@@Contemplativeman101 I knew I saw a video about this movie somewhere.
Same!
I remember this being the only film my parents threw into the shredder because of how bad it was
A better question is "How did it live for as long as it did?" or "What did it do right for a while?"
1) Recognition & respect for the magazine / Goodwill of Animal House & Vacation lasted until roughly 1995. 2) what did they get right? John Hughes, Harold Ramis, Belushi, Chevy Chase, and John Landis. In other words, they used to hire talent.
I’ve only seen Animal House, Vacation and Christmas Vacation. I had no idea there were so many sequels and spin-offs.
I introducted this to my kids as "hey, lets watch a really bad Christmas movie!" We were not disappointed. It was a great opportunity to discuss with them the reason why the jokes didnt land. Setup and payoff are completely missing. They tell us the dog stinks. Then people react to the dog stinking. In the original movies they would have had something happen earlier that led to the dogs problem, and we could all go OH I see whats coming... and see? I saw that coming. We love that in movies. The screenwriter didnt understand "show - dont tell". Worse still is how they keep cutting to the house flooding (a shallow reason to cut to snow remiding us this is a christmas movie), but never mention it when they return home. The punchines dont land because there is no setup/payoff. It's just slapstick gags that werent that funny to begin with.
I'm still stunned from learning they actually had the balls to make a live action baby huey movie.
I’m even stunned they made a live-action Cats movie.
A death so brutal, that not even the 2015 vacation revival could save it .
seen that movie it was shit
Honestly that movie rivaled Christmas Vacation 2 for worst vacation movie… it was actually probably worse as I recall.
@@hdofu ye CV2 was utter crap
I'm still angry that they tried to paint Clark and Ellen as total jerks (according to the people who stayed at their bed and breakfast) in the 2015 soft reboot when the intent of the OG Vacation series is that Clark is so bound and determined to get maximum vacation enjoyment that he ends up destroying everything around him. If anything, Clark shouldn't be anywhere near inhospitable, but trying way too hard to make the guests' stay as memorable as possible.
@@RichyJFilms no disagreement there … but Vacation 2015 had moments that were actually repulsive like that part where they went to the ranch.
I loved Vegas Vacation... I know others don't. Please... PLEASE review it! Merry Christmas hats off!
I actually love that one too and it came out in 1997 and that was one of my best years of my life....especially the summer.
All those impostor Lampoons should be put in a box set and call it DUMPSTER FIRE.
Poor Ed Asner and Fred Willard. I want to feed bad for Randy Quaid too but given his current condition helming a movie was probably the best thing that ever happened to him...
What's his current condition - being awesome!?
@@Geronimo_Jehoshaphat Check out his legal troubles over the past decade. The guy went nuts after his acting roles dried up. Now he claims to be a victim of the deep state because he can’t pay hotel bills, taxes, show up to court dates or register as a citizen in a foreign country. I feel sorry for the guy, his career slump obviously affected his mental health, but going off his Twitter rants, he’s turned into a hobo you avoid at the bus station.
@@jackzimmy8461
Sounds cool. I wouldn't doubt he better knows what's up than most.
I think I spotted Stephen Root as well.
@@Geronimo_Jehoshaphat He WAS awesome. But now he's the type of guy that you go out of your way to avoid. His family don't even speak to him anymore.
What’s weirdly not talked about at all in this video is National Lampoon Radio Hour which is really wonderful and swamped with talent
I agree. A lot of notable names came from Radio Hour like John Belushi, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Harold Ramis, Christopher Guest and Joe Flaherty.
Craig Baker the perfect master
What a great video. It really explains the decline of National Lampoon. Mostly the movie division.
There was a lot of overlap between National Lampoon, early Saturday night live and Second City. They all recruited from the same place and poached the same talent.
It sounds like they were never really great other then just 2 or 3 hits
@@MagicMan508 thats because everyone who started there ended up leaving to get rich somewhere else. The magazine, not the movies. There would be no Simpsons or SNL without TNL
Cousin Eddie is too much of a goofy slapstick character to be the star of his own movie a character like this only really works when he's opposite someone who plays it's straight
I think I agree with what you are trying to say, but I'm not sure it is said well. Chevy was often at his best with the slapstick. I don't think of Cousin Eddie as slapstick as much as parody or caricature.
Your content is fantastic!
Oh hi Max!
Hey Max it’s Kaleb I’m just gonna cut to the chase I’m gonna make cinematic and I want you to do the voice of a character named kris Samson you want in
@@gonzaloottonello1301 sorry but funny but what
It really is! I'm so excited every time I see a new video by him. The recent home alone one was so amazing.
Hey it's the sex predator!
Eric Idle is one of the few things I do remember from European Vacation. Him, Pig in a Poke and Lederhosen dancing/brawling.
the only thing I remember from european vacation is the tits
Yet another example of Making a sequel or spin-off about the fan favorite side character and It never works.
Van Wilder is the only post-1990s National Lampoon movie I'd ever heard of, I had no idea they made so many more movies that went direct to video.
Loaded Weapon is fucking hilarious, actual gold.
Highly recommend “A futile and stupid gesture” for a really great look at national lampoon
Christmas Vacation 1 is a big family tradition movie. Once Christmas comes around it's played quite often.
Nothing lasts forever. Great art is as much a sign of the times its created in, as the people who create it. The 70s and early 80s were a weird time. People made due and in some special cases, created something that stands the test of time. The sun has long set on that era, so best to start something new Hollywood! I wonder what the equivalent is today?
Reaming the same franchise intellectual properties and stories over and over again.
So THIS was the movie that led Randy Quaid to go crazy and flee the country! XD
He was always crazy, just playing himself.
In 1983, my 14-year-old self somehow tricked my mother into letting me subscribe to National Lampoon Magazine with her Publisher's Clearing House entry form. Thus, I graduated from the Mad Magazine school of satirical comedy to a subversive new world... jokes, with nudity!
Animal House will always be a classic.
That one and the Vacation one with Chevy Chase.
I was today years old when I found out that national lampoon was a magazine. As a kid I thought it was Chevy Chase's name.
I remember looking at the dvd at my library than texting my parents just knowing this was going to be crap
this is what essentially what happened with cars 2. they made the comic relief character the main character when they were never meant to be the lead
That repeated shot of Bluto looking unamused had me rolling.
Thank you so much for reviewing this! I've always been so curious about Christmas Vacation 2 but couldn't bring myself to sit through it. You're doing the Lord's work!
Belushi’s look at 10:01 sums it all up.
I knew of animal house and the vacation movies and van wilder. But I had no idea those other flops existed. Until I found Christmas Vacation 2 in the $5 bin. I watched it once and forced myself to finish it.
Speaking of National Lampoon, I really enjoyed Will Forte as Doug Kenney in A Futile and Stupid Gesture. Does a good job there. I like Will Forte when he’s not playing Shaggy in SCOOB. Badly miscast there. But if you want to give an opinion on A Futile and Stupid Gesture, it’s on Netflix[in the US].
That movie was good although one complaint I would have is Doug’s death was kinda mishandled and ends up kinda looking like Chevy’s fault for not keeping a closer eye on him
The only complaint I have about that movie is how they had a nearly 50 year old Will Forte playing a college student who is supposed to be in his late teens/early twenties. Will Forte is a hilarious comedian and a really good serious actor (watch Nebraska) but he was miscast as a young Doug Kenney.
Am I the only one who enjoys Loaded Weapon 1?
Man, I can't believe they actually made a solo movie about a character that I hated the most in those vacation movies. Cousin Eddie.
Loaded Weapon 1 was a great movie! Needs a blu-ray release.
you know... i actually chuckled with the shower scene and bryan cranston... he's just such a good actor with great comedic timing. it lands
I watched this movie when it debuted on NBC in 2003. It came on right after they aired Christmas Vacation back then in the early 2000's Christmas Vacation only aired once or twice on NBC and could not be seen on any other network at the time. Now Christmas Vacation is seen 50 times on t.v every holiday season. This weird sequel was boring, stupid and forgettable. Never viewed it again and it was just now while watching this video on UA-cam I recall it.
Vacation, Christmas vacation and European vacation are the best ones
The original National Lampoon films only worked because of the talent involved at every conceivable level: Writers, Directors, and of course the Actors themselves.
When you have mediocre writers and untalented directors, you can have the best actors in the world and you are still going to have a crappy movie.
Case in point, since I'm a big fan of the old universal horror movies, the only redeeming quality in some rather horrible films such as "The Ape Man" or "Spider Baby" was the inclusion of Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.
As good of an actor as Randy Quaid is, etc--- you give him a horrible script for a film with a cheap budget it's still going to be a bad movie.
Jesus Christ Almighty God bless you all and Merry Christmas 😊
But that is how raunchy and r rated comedies work.. If they all have talent it becomes an unforgettable classic, if they all are just doing it for a check you get these kind of disasters.. Doesn't matter if you put good actors like randy Quaid or Cranston in them if nobody else gives a fuck about the project
It's seriously crazy what happened to this brand. Animal House was one of my dad's favorite films, and I used to watch it all the time with him before he died. Loaded Weapon was one of the first parody films that I got to appreciate cause I was old enough to get the jokes. How did it become a vehicle for off-brand raunch films?
Easy. All the good talented people went elsewhere.
My dad wouldn't watch that film
Aside from Vacation, Van Wilder, and Loaded Weapon 1, there is 1 other National Lampoon's movie that contains a gem. I believe it was made for Showtime and called Favorite Deadly Sins. It's mostly forgettable, but there's a skit that basically takes Andrew Dice Clay's mid 90s comedy routine and turns it into a short film. It's probably my favorite thing Dice was in.
Even better than say: the adventures of ford fairlane?
@@Thx-sp6es so hard to rank them between each other since this is a short.
Vacation, Christmas vacation, European vacation and animal hosue are the only good ones
Eddie's island adventure was stupid and cheaply made, but the control tower plane scene where he traumatized the air traffic guy was hysterical.
omg the Comic Sans thing hahaha Joe I burst out laughing!
For some reason, your videos feel like they last way longer then their 20 minute run time but are also super entertaining to watch. It must be all the great information and examples you put into it.
Red Letter Media loved the Milwaukee joke
“Loved” might be a bit of a stretch for them being mildly amused at a brief mention to their home state.
You should do MAD Magazine's "Up the Academy"
And now I understand why those piles of almost unwatchable direct to video dreck sported the National Lampoon name. Excellent video
Never saw this sequel, but would like to thank this analysis for introducing me to the talents of Lee Sung Hi. Good Lord.😳
its really interesting that despite their failures National Lampoon has courted some surprising talent for their crappy movies, I mean Bryan Cranston? the guys from Workaholics, and half of Jackass, I'm sure hidden in the bowels of the National lampoon's catalogue you would find a bunch of other actors making first time appearances that they would rather have you forget...
without John Hughes and Howard Ramis, National Lampoon was nothing. Change my mind.
Watched Christmas vacation every Christmas eve, had no idea there was a sequel.
National Lampoons Loaded Weapon is one of my all time favorite films! Glad to see it get mentioned in a positive light.
Eventually you should tackle National Lampoon's Last Resort (or Scuba School as it is sometimes called) with the two Coreys, or Loaded Weapon or Men In White.
Stuttering John: The man who survived showbiz on pure luck and zero talent!
I read the National Lampoon every month. It was the best comedy magazine ever.
Shout out to me for recognizing Luscious Lopez in a one-second appearance in some crappy movie I've never heard of
You ain't the only one.
Men of culture
I remember some number of years back, one of my uncles checked this one out, and later proclaimed it either as, the best, or his favorite of the Vacation movies.
After about 5 or 10 years, last year I think it was, I found it at my local LA county public library, so decided well, if it's free, why not..... I won't say that it ruined my life or any other "earth-shattering" claim like that, but it is quite so the WORST movie I've ever seen, and I do wonder what is wrong with that uncle, to think that this could even remotely be better than Vegas Vacation, or European Vacation (and I love those two, European probably being the most underrated one).
When I graduated college I called their office to try to get a job and they told me the same thing. They said that they are basically a brand that companies buy the name and slap it on their movies. There’s no actual production anymore. Sad!
You're one of the best things on UA-cam man. I hope you're making a living from this because you make the most delightful content. Merry Christmas and keep up the awesome work.
I've never heard of this! my siblings and I were gonna go see christmas vacation in the theater the other day but it was like $15 because it was a movie party. if anyone sees this and isn't aware, your local theater most likely plays classic movies on a regular basis. I live in the Phoenix area and there are constantly theaters playing classic movies for like 5 or 10 bucks!
i have an uncle who's similar to cousin eddie, it's actually quite sad and annoying
I find it interesting and ironic that your video on National Lampoons most likely generated more laughter than the collective movies in the last 20 years.
this movie made the most sense in the vacation franchise.