16 September 2011   Of the three films John Hughes wrote in
1983, Mr. Mom proved that he could write a big, Zeitgeisty hit,
but his next effort (which premiered a whole week later in July
of that year) was almost certainly the more impressive
achievement. For one thing, it was almost as successful as Mr.
Mom - $61 million vs. $64 million at the US box office - and it
did that with the handicap of an R rating. For another, where
Mr. Mom is regarded with a kind of glazed acceptance, Vacation
is still held up as a comedy masterpiece in some circles, for
the unanswerable reason that, whereas Mr. Mom is sweet and
aimless and bland, Vacation is a deconstruction of the insulated
self-assurance of the white suburbanite that verges on outright
anarchism in spots. And for a third thing, Vacation was the
fourth film released under the National Lampoon banner, and the
first one since Animal House to do well enough for itself to
secure the future of the brand name when it was right on the
cusp of folding. Which means that