Film #54: The Great Outdoors (1988)

Plot - John Candy and Dan Aykroyd are somehow related, leading to Dan coming to John's cottage and ruining his life in various ways. Unfortunately, the ways he ruins his life aren't nearly as funny as you want them to be, and any sort of emotion is squandered on a hopelessly predictable plot.

Form - Shot like any self-respecting family comedy, although it lacks those horrible sped up shots of people running away from bears. This one has normal speed bear chases, so I'll give it a point.

F/X - There's a really cool shaved bear that runs around. I don't know if they actually shaved a bear's ass in preparation for the film, but it looks like they did.

Acting - Eh, yet Aykroyd's really good as an annoying guy that you don't want to ever talk to.

Mise en scene - No.

Quotables - No.

Cool stuff - Not really. I really hope I'm not supposed to fondly remember John Candy for films like this. His greatest performance: Cool Runnings.

3/7