The Kidd here...
Ed Helms is all set to become the new Rusty Griswold in New Line's reboot of VACATION, as this time it's Rusty taking his family on a road trip vacation of sorts that is sure to be the worst possible idea ever. I'm not entirely sure why Rusty would be putting himself through another one of these ordeals after his trips to Wally World, Europe and Las Vegas all turned out to be so disastrous, but I guess this can easily be chalked up to like father, like son.
VACATION would head into production sometime next spring after Helms completes his obligations to THE HANGOVER PART III and the next season of THE OFFICE, per Variety, and, of course, there are still rumors of Chevy Chase making at least an appearance in the new film, as what's a VACATION movie without Clark Griswold?
Initially upon hearing the news, I thought Helms might have been too old to pull this off, but it happens he's ony 38, which is six years younger than Anthony Michael Hall who played the initial Rusty in the first VACATION, and four years older than Ethan Embry, who was Rusty in the last installment of VEGAS VACATION. Either way, Chevy Chase is actually 68, so the years work out that Ed Helms could realistically be Chevy Chase's son, so now it's up to co-directors/co-writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (writers of HORRIBLE BOSSES) to make sure this VACATION is funny and lives up to the standard that first film set. Granted, the sequels never were quite as good, yet still good for a few laughs, but it'd be a shame to see a film that either directly borrows beats from its predecessors or just doesn't get what made those VACATIONs funny to begin with.
At least from THE HANGOVER films, Helms is a target for bad shit to happen to, so he may fit right at home here, where everything that can go wrong will go wrong for the patriarch of the family.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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