User Reviews

Jack Chester, an air traffic controller, is burned. He almost provokes an accident when a fly lands in his computer screen. His boss suggests some time off. To this effect a house is secured in a Florida resort area. Jack and his family pack a U-Haul, and go to the Sunshine State. Little do they know they are in for a big adventure.

The house where the Chesters land is a dream come true. Wow, how lucky can they be? The fun doesn't last as the right owners come to claim their property as the Chesters have gone to the wrong address! The real house they rented is another story. Suddenly, their vacation turns into a not so pleasant experience.

Jack Chester, who has made a good friend in Scully, the owner of The Barnacle, wants to rent one of the boats to teach his young son how to sail. He becomes quite a pro with the help of Scully. For the regatta that is going to be held at the beach resort, Scully proposes to refit The Barnacle for the race. Al Pellet, the wealthy resident of the resort, has won the cup for the last seven years and wants to keep the trophy. Little does he know who he is racing against!

Carl Reiner directed this 1984 film. He was lucky in having John Candy, a wonderful comedy actor to star in it. The whole thing is a tribute to the late Mr. Candy, a man who died too soon, as proved by this film, that although is not one of the best that both the director, or its star made, it has some sunny moments. Rip Torn and Richard Crenna, appear as Scully and Pellet.

"Summer Rental" is one of several comedies John Candy made in which he played everyman roles. Here he is Jack Chester, an Atlanta air traffic controller who has to take a vacation to relax. So, he packs off to Florida for a month's vacation with his wife and two kids. A good cast surrounds him in this film, with Rip Torn contributing much of the comedy as Scully.

Richard Crenna is very good playing a jerk - Al Pellet. He's a native of the Florida community which hosts an annual sailing regatta. Naturally, Pellet has won the past seven years. After he and Chester have a confrontation over lobsters, the plot is set for an eventual showdown between the two men. Well, it's not hard to guess what it might be and how it will end. But, there's a lot that takes place with very humorous events involving Chester.

Beach scenes are particularly hilarious. There's a nice sailing scenario with some tame action. The film was made mostly around St. Petersburg, Florida. This film holds up well for light comedy and entertainment well into the 21st century.

This is the sort of movie that plays with more impact in a theater than on TV or DVD. On the small screen, not only do you miss interacting with a sympathetic audience, but the timing and the editing seem not quite right. Oddly, the movie's screenplay construction which relies heavily on one-off episodes would seem ideal for television, but this is not the case. The climactic yacht race does not come across with the impact a live audience would give it. Instead, the editing often seems mistimed and fails to build as effectively as it should to the anticipated climax. In fact, it cuts out just at the point where it should start to get really exciting. Instead of building to a climax, the race almost fades away. It seems as if director Carl Reiner was telling us: "Well, you all know what's going to happen so it's no use making a big thing of it. We've got one joke to pull, and that should do it!" John Candy gets the director's rapt attention at all times. So does Rip Torn. But Richard Crenna's role is not built up sufficiently (although he has his moments). In fact, aside from Rip Torn (and briefly, Miss "Are they real?"), director Reiner always seems to be aiming his camera squarely at Candy at the expense of almost everyone else in the vast cast,

John Candy, Richard Crenna, Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, Joey Lawrence and John Larroquette star in Carl Reiner's 1985 comedy. Jack Chester (Candy) is a burnt-out, air traffic controller who decides to take a vacation with his wife, Sandy (Austin), son, Bobby (Lawrence) and daughters, Jennifer, (Green) and Laurie (Aubrey Jene). They travel to Citrus Cove, Florida and Jack gets into some mishaps plus a bad sunburn. Crenna (First Blood) plays Al Pellet, a wealthy snob who is also a 7-year boat race champion, Torn (Defending Your Life) plays Scully, Captain and restaurant owner of "The Barnacle" and Larroquette (Blind Date) plays Don Moore, a nice guy who befriends The Chesters. This is a good 80's flick and Candy & the cast are great in it. I recommend this.

The 1980s saw a glut of disaster-vacation comedies - "National Lampoon's Vacation", "National Lampoon's European Vacation", "The Great Outdoors" and "Summer Rental" are just four that spring to mind. A common factor between most of these films is that many of them feature John Candy. He had just a short cameo in "National Lampoon's Vacation", and had to share the comic honours with Dan Akroyd in "The Great Outdoors". but "Summer Rental" is very much a starring vehicle for big John, and he is the best thing about this otherwise very obvious and predictable beachfront farce.

Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester (John Candy) is ordered by his superiors to take a little time off after losing his nerve one day at work. Jack takes the opportunity to travel down to Florida for a summer vacation with his family - wife Sandy (Karen Austin), blossoming daughter Jennifer (Kerri Green), cheeky son Bobby (Joey Lawrence) and toddler Laurie (Aubrey Jene). Almost from the moment they arrive the vacation is a catalogue of disasters. Jack falls asleep on the beachfront and gets heavily sunburnt; the holiday home they think they've rented turns out to belong to someone else and they find themselves in a run-down shack instead; Jennifer starts getting a little too friendly with the local lifeguards; etc. etc. Jack also crosses swords with local playboy Al Pellet (Richard Crenna), little suspecting that Pellet actually owns the holiday home in which his family is staying. When Pellet orders the family to leave they are devastated, but Jack comes up with the idea of challenging Pellet by betting that he can defeat him in the annual sailing regatta. Problem is that Jack doesn't even have a boat, but he solves this by persuading local restaurateur Scully (Rip Torn) to convert his floating restaurant so that it can be used in the race!

This is Candy's film and he comes across affably as the parent whose determination to please his family usually ends in disaster. Austin is very good as his wife (surprising that she never went on to enjoy much of a career), while Crenna has obvious fun as the obnoxious playboy. Torn rounds off the principal players in a typically hammy but occasionally amusing role as a one-handed, piratical restaurant owner. "Summer Rental" loses marks in the script and story department because it's so thin and obvious. We've seen variations on this basic concept time and again, and the writers (Jeremy Stevens and Mark Reisman) and director (Carl Reiner) make no attempts to freshen up the familiar material. Also, the film's contrived climax is so improbable and sentimental that it provokes more groans than smiles. At least "Summer Rental" is a short film, so even when it slips into its periodic mawkishness it never really outstays its welcome. It's one of those films that you'll watch, you smile at from time to time, and then you'll forget.

In 1985,this was the first John candy movie I paid to see and all i can say over 20 years later is it's still as funny as it was then. That meaning,I laughed quite a bit but I went away feeling there could have been more to laugh at,with a bit more creativity in script writing.

It's not a "bad" script but it's not great either. Some of the set-up's and payoffs are predictable. Like John getting caught looking at a woman showing off her "new bust job",only to have her husband walk in. Not predictable is his reaction of,"Are you at it again"? That and encouraging Candy to feel if they seem real.

The end of the boat race is very predictable,you know John & family are going to win. I had hoped he'd make his victory funnier somehow. The rest in between,well,the humor is there but again,just could have been more spectacular or memorable in some way.

I've watched it many times since then but my reaction has been no different than before. I guess it could be a simple fun film to watch (which it is)but for a comedy with a talent like John Candy,it's so-so. I stand by my 6 star rating and end by saying if simple fare is what you want,rent a laugh. It's here. I just like comedy on a higher octane level.

(End)

The three stars are only because John Candy turned in a very game effort and was actually quite funny, only to be undone by one of the most preposterous plots ever. Indeed this movie was rather sloppily constructed and edited from start to finish, and it appears the producers were absolutely all-out to come up with a whopping 86 minutes of material. The talents of Richard Crenna and Rip Torn are completely wasted, and I'm still trying to figure out what the John Larroquette character was all about. This is just incredibly inept stuff from a man, Carl Reiner, whom I've generally admired through the years. It's one thing to direct a flop, but it's another to lend your support to something as astonishingly stupid as the second-half boat race in this film. I mean,your basic Tom & Jerry cartoon makes more sense...at least the cat is chasing the mouse, and that's kind of a story. I actually watched the second half of this movie again, since perhaps I was being too harsh. Hardly. If anything, I'm being too easy when I say that the entire boat race sequence might be the dumbest thing ever released on an unsuspecting American public. In fact, that scene is so bad it's surprising the country has lasted another 25 years. It's a breathtakingly awful sequence that makes me feel as if my IQ has been stripped 50 points overnight. Warning: If you must watch this movie turn it off the second the boats line up for the regatta.

Jack Chester (John Candy) is an over-stressed 13-year air traffic controller. His boss forces him to take a vacation. With his wife Sandy (Karen Austin), kids Jennifer (Kerri Green), Bobby (Joey Lawrence) and Laurie, they drive down to Citrus Cove, Florida. The town big shot Al Pellet (Richard Crenna) cuts in line at the restaurant right before the Chesters and takes the last of the lobsters. Their luxurious rental turns out to be a wrong address. Their actual rental is a rundown beach house. Jack rents a boat and crashes into Pellet. The rivalry gets even worst when Pellet buys the rental house and throws the Chesters out. Jack challenges him in a yacht race using restaurant owner Scully (Rip Torn)'s old decommissioned boat.

On the page, Jack is boorish and rather clueless. He's a sitcom dad and could have been a rather tired caricature. The difference between the page and the screen is John Candy. He is absolutely charming. He is the engine that drives this boat and Carl Reiner knows it. The kids and the wife have only a few sections by themselves without Jack. This is a silly 80s comedy which is elevated by Candy.

Saw it when I was a kid, love this movie! John Candy too. He's always giving good vibes. Summer Rental's really good. Mister Candy is a strength of this movie; he's the king of family vacation comedies. Karen Austin in her only real famous role is cool and Kerri Green from The Goonies is a babe a total, pure babe. They look gorgeous in their bikinis. Rip Torn has a good part. We don't make slices of life like this anymore. This movie's so clowning!