A Cure for the Summertime Blues? (Summer Rental, 1985)

Summer_Rental_PosterSummer Rental follows the story of Air Traffic Controller Jack Chester who is forced by his boss to take a vacation. He and his family are set up with a beach side rental.  Jack quickly finds himself at odds with the rich and self important locals and strikes up a friendship with bar owner Scully. This friendship leads to the family and Scully entering a boating competition against the biggest rich jerk in town (played with proper arrogance by Richard Crenna).

Summer Rental is a fun film, but largely carried by the charm of John Candy.  He is a well meaning hapless guy here, finding himself bumbling through misadventures. The film’s most memorable running joke is Vicki, a young woman wanting opinions on her breast implants and how uncomfortable it makes Jack and other guys. And the gag does work okay.  While Candy carries the heavy load, it would be unfair to ignore the rest of the cast.  Rip Torn especially is entertaining in the role of Scully, the bar owner, ship captain who may have committed to the pirate captain role a bit too much.

Summer Rental is light but enjoyable fare, edged up a bit by the presence of Candy.

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