It’s finally spring and the weather is warming up. Your kids have a week off of school and you are all desperate to get away. But maybe that’s not in the cards this year. You couldn’t get time off of work, the budget is tight, plane tickets are expensive, you have a sick family member or pet, schedules are out of sync, or you simply couldn’t get it together in time to plan a trip. Whatever the reason, spring 2019 for you will decidedly be a staycation.
If this is the situation in which you currently find yourself, don’t despair. In between day trips to the zoo and playground with the kids, and evenings making your own pina coladas and margaritas while dreaming of being on a beach, make sure you cue up the Netflix or Amazon Prime and catch up on some good movies. If you can’t go on vacation yourself, why not watch movies about other people going on vacation? It’s the next best thing, right? Well, in the case of some of the movies on our list, that might very well be true.
5. Weekend at Bernie’s – 1989
Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy) are thrilled to have been invited by their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser) to his incredible beach house for the weekend. Little do they know, he’s plotting to have them killed because of a criminal scheme in which he is involved. Things don’t go as planned, and Bernie is killed instead. Rather than letting a silly murder ruin their plans, the guys pretend that Bernie is just fine, and proceed to enjoy their time in his house with the corpse. If your vacation plans got ruined this year, they’ve got nothing on this scenario.
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 2008
Peter (Jason Segel) has just been dumped by his famous girlfriend, Sarah (Kristen Bell), and wants desperately to get away so he can forget her. He heads to Hawaii, where the couple had originally planned to vacation together. Despite the incredible beauty, delicious drinks, and surfing opportunities, his trip is ruined when Sarah herself shows up at the same hotel with her new boyfriend. If you’re sitting on your couch, you’ll appreciate the gorgeous Hawaiian landscape and the good laughs that this movie provides. And you’ll be forever grateful that you’re not in Peter’s place.
3. Eat Pray Love – 2010
Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) is having a hard time figuring who she is and what she needs to do in her life to truly be happy. She files for divorce from her wishy-washy husband, falls for a younger man, and decides that the life that she needs is not before her eyes. So she picks up on a year-long journey to find herself — in Italy, where she eats as much as her heart desires; in India, where she learns to find silence and pray; and in Bali, where she finds love again, once she has rediscovered herself. If you really wish you were on vacation, this movie will make you hungry for authentic Italian pasta and long for beautiful foreign sunsets.
2. The Great Outdoors – 1988
Chet (John Candy) and his family can’t get enough of life in the outdoors. So when they head from Chicago to Wisconsin for a weekend of fishing, their hopes of having a peaceful weekend are squashed when brother-in-law Roman (Dan Akroyd) and his annoying family crash. The two families are nothing alike, and it leads to one uncomfortable situation after another.
1. National Lampoon’s European Vacation – 1985
When the Griswolds find themselves with a free vacation thanks to winning on a games how, Clark (Chevy Chase) and Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) are thrilled to get the chance to go to Europe. Their teenage kids, however, are far from enthusiastic. As the gang heads through England, Germany, France, and Italy, they predictably encounter one disaster after another — as this family is prone to do. You might consider yourself lucky that you get to sit on your couch this spring instead of being stuck in a car with Clark Griswold driving on the left side of the road.
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