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The Great Outdoors (1988)

By Nate Feldman

The Great Outdoors is a 1988 comedy starring John Candy and Dan Aykroyd about two families that go camping at a lodge in the wilderness and go through a series of misadventures.  

Chet and his wife two sons plan to go to a lodge that they spent their honeymoon at.  Chet wants to bond with his sons in the woods the way he says his father bonded with him.  

Little does Chet know, but Roman and his wife and two daughters have decided to follow them unannounced.  This unnerves Chet as he is annoyed by Roman's constant bragging about his financial success with his investments.  

The movie from there is basically a series of semi-disasters.  Chet goes on a wild water skiing ride with Roman at the helm when it was really supposed to be his son doing it.  He also has a family of bears get on top of his car while talking with his son.  While at a restaurant, Chet is challenged into eating a huge piece of steak that no one else has ever eaten before, making him sick.  Roman's daughters fall down a mine shaft during a violent thunderstorm and Chet is chased by a huge bear he had shot in the head on a previous trip.  

This movie does not have the highest reviews.  There is nothing particularly memorable about it other than the fact that it has notable actors, like John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, and Annette Benning.  That being said, it's not the worst film either.  It is a lighthearted family comedy, and it serves that purpose well.  It is only 90 minutes, so it is the kind of film you can watch and enjoy yourself with when you have some spare time.  I would give it three out of five stars for that.

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