Vegas Vacation (1997): Dir: Stephen Kessler / Cast: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Wallace Shawn, Wayne Newton: Perhaps the most family friendly of the comedy series. The first film dealt with the reality of vacation plans never going as planned. Their trip to Europe in the second film regarded culture. Their Christmas outing in the third film regards family. Fourth of the Griswold vacation series is a lesson in wealth. Clark plans to remarry Ellen but along the way he causes a flood at the Hoover Dam, and becomes addicted to gambling. Ellen nearly has an affair with Wayne Newton. Son Rusty wins cars by playing slot machines. Daughter Audrey becomes a showgirl. Directed by Stephen Kessler with fine Vegas footage. Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo are in fine comic tune although the conclusion featuring Sid Ceasar is totally contrived. They reunite again in marriage after Clark steals her back from Wayne Newton. Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie steals the film. He lives in the middle of frig nowhere but offers Clark assistance when his gambling debt hits too high. Wallace Shawn plays a blackjack dealer who knows all to well what he is doing after Clark's repeated returns. Wayne Newton appears as himself pining after D'Angelo. Underrated fourth entry is quite amusing and entertaining. Strong theme makes this vacation worth the gamble. Score: 6 / 10

Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Ethan Embry, Marisol Nichols and Wayne Newton star in this 1997 comedy sequel. In this installment, Clark Griswold (Chase) takes his wife, Ellen (D'Angelo) and 2 kids, Rusty (Embry) and Audrey (Nichols) to Las Vegas, Nevada for a family trip. Clark runs into cousin Eddie (Quaid) while getting there and has bad luck. Newton plays himself who falls in love with Ellen and Clark starts getting himself addicted to gambling causing him to lose most of his money and his family starts going their separate ways. Soon, Clark tries to redeem himself and get his family back together. This is a pretty good, but long-waited sequel, Chevy is great as usual and I recommend this.

this fourth installment in the vacation series is close to abysmal in my opinion.it's cheap gimmickry at it lowest.the first three in the series were all very good,pretty much at the same level of quality of jokes and story.this one was neither funny nor clever.the only good thing about the the whole travesty is Wallace Shawn who has a small role as a black jack dealer.his bit is quite funny.but that's it.otherwise it's sheer tedium.it's worth noting that the words "national lampoon" do not appear before the title,so maybe that says something right there.anyway,if i had known how bad this thing was,i would have booked myself self an appointment for a sinus scraping instead.it would have been more enjoyable.i'll give it 3/10 for Wallace Shawn

I used to really like Vegas Vacation. But I watched it again recently and, well, it wasn't that good. I still give it credit, but it's not that great. Vegas vacation is rated PG, and I can really see it. The film has it's funny moments but really doesn't come alive like the first and third film did. The film is corny, and there are many silly scenes. Ellen(Beverly D'Angelo) is irritating, and in this film she falls head over heels for Wayne Newton. If only I could find these high heels so then I could throw them at her. Vegas Vacation is sort of irritating. It's probably the weakest in the series. It's a silly, silly sequel.Vegas vacation:**/****