19- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 19, 1997 I They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants will be bring- ing Its wacky brand of pop oddities to Ypsilanti this evening. Catch both Johns (Unneil and Flansburgh) at Eastern Michigan's Pease Auditorium tonight at 8, as they tour for their new album, "Factory Showroom." And for Die-hard fans -- win an entire TMBG CD cata- og, a special "S-E-X-X-Y" single -and an autographed poster. Send us e-mail at dailymusic@umich.edu and be a winner. lands at Eastern 7 'Vegas ) make s rvacation By Bryan Lark Daily Film Editor There are few things you can count on in life. The sunrise. Your family. O.J. coverage. A good, fun Griswold vaca- tion. Wait ... strike that last one. Upon witnessing the horrifically unfunny spectacle that is "Vegas Vacation," you, too, will be compelled to strike something - or someone. Back for one more, and hopefully last, screen outing, the ever-bumbling Griswold family, led by Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D' Angelo), are subjected to another needless festi- val of gags and gaffes. Instilling countless memories of trav- el embarrassments on an entire genera- tion, National Lampoon's first family has dragged its reluctant children, Rusty and Audrey, to Wally World, across Europe and even to a quiet fam- ily Christmas at home. Perhaps spurred by the embarrass- ment of the latest trip to Las Vegas, National Lampoon has dropped its name from the title, leaving Clark, The Griswold family tries its hand at gambling in "Vegas Vacation." Ellen, Rusty and Audrey to fend for themselves among the casinos, hookers and glitzy entertainers. And they don't fare very well: Beginning auspiciously with a decid- edly Clark-esque commute home over medians and pedestrians, the film slowly RI descends into comedic clich6 and Ve movie monotony as I Clark announces that he'll be spend- At E ing his big bonus on a family jaunt to Vegas. Once in Sin City, the Griswolds become predictably seduced by the glamour of it all: so-called "family man" Clark by the gambling; underage Rusty (Ethan Embry) by the slot machines and women; overachieving Audrey (Marisol Nichols) by the seedy life of cage-dancing; and obsessed ;E g Bria Ellen by Wayne Newton. Also along for the fun are wacky white-trash cousins Eddie (Randy Quaid) and Catherine (Miriam Flynn), who now live on a former government nuclear test site with their burgeoning brood of children and snakes. VI EW Together the extended. as Vacation Griswold clan sees the sites of the * Strip and Hoover rwood and Showcase Dam. They quick- ly tire of one another, allowing Clark to lose $22,000, Rusty to assume the identity of high-roller Nick Pappagiorgio, Audrey to pursue the life of short skirts and platforms and Ellen to spend quality time with Mr. "Danke Schoen." Before you can laugh more than three times, the Griswolds are back e ... I ~0 together, learning from their.mistakes and understanding what it means to be a family. And they live happily ever after. But the audience doesn't. Instead of a happy feeling, the audience is left with only stale jokes, absurd antics and sappy family values. That type of absurdity is wh* endeared the first three "Vacations" to audiences, thanks in part to creator Amy Heckerling, whose sense of silli- ness is well-grounded in non-sentimen- tal reality. Without Heckerling's keen sense of what funny is, the film spins off to some distant world where tired slapstick reigns. While in "Vegas," Chase and compa- ny slam against walls, hang precarious- ly over raging rivers, deliver the screen- play's flaccid lines and -continual* embarrass themselves. This is all territory the Griswolds have treaded in the past, thus making the fourth "Vacation" little more than a rehash of what we loved about the first three journeys. In fact, "Vegas" milks the preced- ing films for all they are worth, play- ing that catchy "Holiday Road" tune and having a cameo appearance l Christie Brinkley, just for the sake o kitsch. Speaking of kitsch, the film also milks the life out of Las Vegas, even going so far as to exploit the codpieces and caged tigers of Siegfried & Roy for a much-needed laugh. Laughs are not the only thing missing from "Vegas Vacation:' How about a plot? Or some unpredictability? Or some witty dialogue? That's probably too much to ask of first-time scree writer Elisa Bell. This is not to say that this "Vacation" is completely worthless. Some of the gags actually succeed in creating inspired comedy: Clark and Ellen's failed attempt at joining the Mile High Club; an outrageous Dam tour introduction ("I'm your Dam tour guide. Take all the Dam pictures you want:'); an inside look at the cheap casinos of Las Vegas with games lik Pick A Number and Rock, Scissors, Paper testing your skill; and a dead-on inside jokethat mocks the ever-chang- ing, yet always static, Griswold chil- dren whose ages and hair colors have been altered over the course of four films. One can only hope that the Griswolds will return for one last vacation to someplace wacky like Africa, Antarctica or Akron to redeem themselves from the unnecessary retread of pleasantly silly vacation memories known as their "Vegas Vacation." You can hope, but don't count on it. 1400 Estero Boulevard. Fort Myers Beach FL. 33931 Some Resumes Make The Rounds Faster Than Others. Quaid and Chase in "Vacation." I w_ MEP Ut l K mJ- ~ *% mply- f %"^ " ;Dl.s 1