‘Vegas Vacation’ Needs More Than Luck

To the legions who have returned as losers from the glitzy playgrounds of the Nevada desert can now be added the people responsible for “Vegas Vacation.”

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as Clark Griswold and his wife, Ellen, are supported by everyone from Sid Caesar to Christie Brinkley, Wayne Newton, and, as the Griswolds’ country cousin, Eddie, Randy Quaid.

But someone neglected to infuse this outing with humor.

So while a soundtrack turns to the Beach Boys, Aram Khachaturian and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among others, in a desperate effort to substitute busy musical rhythms for the subtleties of genuine comic pace, the performers are left stranded.

Throughout this lame film, directed by Stephen Kessler and written by Elisa Bell, situations are developed - complicated directions to a hotel room, Clark clinging to the face of Hoover Dam, Ellen the object of Newton’s seductive charm - and left to wither without a payoff.

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“Vegas Vacation” Locations: East Sprague, North Division and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Stephen Kessler; starring Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Wayne Newton. Running time: 1:30 Rating: PG