In the John Hughes-scripted The Great Outdoors, John Candy stars as Chet Ripley, an oafish paterfamilias who takes his family on a vacation at a lakeside resort. Their enjoyment is seriously compromised when brother-in-law Roman Craig (Dan Aykroyd) shows up with his wife and kiddies. The rest of the film is an ongoing war between Ripley's carefree aggregation and Craig's obnoxiously prissy brood, and making things worse, a driving rainstorm forces both families to remain under one roof well-past
their threshold of patience. Annette Bening makes her film debut as Aykroyd's ill-tempered wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
At the onset it seems that Candy, as in Uncle, plays the lower class half. Yet, by [Outdoors'] end we learn that the in-law is actually broke, essentially Cousin Eddie in disguise.
Charming when it works, when it is based primarily in the interplay between characters or in the writer's unabashed nostalgia for a kind of cozy Americana.
Bit of a classic comedy that was watched by the whole family over the years whenever it would be show on TV, like many old Candy films it was a bit of a ritual to view these type of 80's comedies.The family holiday that hits disaster is a common theme with the likes of National Lampoons Vacation series being another
classic and a much loved film when I was growing up, 'The Great Outdoors' isn't quite as good as 'Lampoon' to be honest, its a fun ride with some good moments but nothing outrageously funny.Candy is actually slightly upstaged here by the always good Aykroyd as the slimy 80's yuppie haha the rest of the cast including Annette Bening is rather weak like the whole film really, its simply Candy and Akyroyd that make it decent. Its cheesy and full of those obvious dated sets hehe plenty of silly stunts with doubles and the usual animal attack phobias by your typical terrified of nature yanks lol!
This movie sure makes me long for the summer. A fun family-on-vacation flick, with John Candy and Dan Akroyd at the top of their comedic abilities. The story is quite simple and nothing extraordinary, but one that's easy to like and be entertained by. Even more so if you're the type of person who enjoy camping in the
woods. A solid 3 out of 5.
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