Summer Rental

The first half of "Summer Rental" is fun, with a stressed out John Candy, at the beach. He encounters some offbeat characters, the best scenes are with Rip Torn and Lois Hamilton. The latter expounding on the obvious merits of her new breasts is classic material (hint, freeze frame the DVD to see why she is so proud). Unfortunately the rest of the movie involves a contrived sailing race with Richard Crenna playing the, all too typical, snob competition. Compared to some of Candy's misfires like "Armed and Dangerous", this is a success, but one or two great scenes are unfortunately stretched between a lot of weak material. - MERK

Fair little comedy from the 1980s that starts well and proves to be entertaining for the most part, but loses its way with plot resolution late. John Candy, Karen Austin and their children decide to take a vacation at the beach and end up getting into all sorts of wild situations. Richard Crenna is the comic-book-styled bad guy who ends up locking horns with Candy over and over again. It seems that a twist of fate will create more friction between the two. Candy has a plan though to get even with Crenna by winning a sailing contest with the help of run-down restaurant owner Rip Torn and the restaurant itself. Fair in the end. John Candy fans will appreciate the film more than others. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

"Summer Rental" has a lot of good will going for. It's almost instantly likable. It may not be a classic but it is very enjoyable. John Candy is usually a hard guy to resist. In "Summer Rental" it's even harder than usual. The rest of the cast also does a nice job. This movie moves along a nice pace with very few bumps along the way. "Summer Rental" always hits the spot.

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.

John Candy plays Jack Chester, a burnout air traffic controller in 1985's "Summer Rental," where he takes his family to the beaches of St. Petersburg for some r & r. While the family has fun, they also clash with a champion yachtsman (Richard Crenna) and settle their differences in a sailboat race. Candy's always good as a comedic every-man and Karen Austin and Kerri Green shine as female eye candy (so you get the best of both worlds – older babe and younger babe, lol). The first half features the expected beach vacation antics while the second half focuses on the yacht race. Rip Torn plays the pirate-like companion that helps Chester compete. The film delivers just enough amusement for this kind of flick to give a marginal "thumbs up." The film runs 87 minutes and was shot in the St. Petersburg area with the opening scenes in Atlanta. GRADE: B-

I thoroughly enjoy watching this movie every time they show it on Comedy Central or USA or TNT. This movie is classic John Candy all the way. Candy has scenes, no matter how many I times I watch, that make me laugh so hard I fall from my chair. Like when he kicks all the people out of his house wielding a crutch. Sure the story may be weak and a little corny with the whole boat race but it ranks up there among my favorites. It has some other memorable moments including Rip Torn's character of Scully. My of my favorite parts is when he is teaching Jack (played by Candy) to sail. They are on the boat late at night and they are both drunk. Scully announces to jack, "Here's and little ditty me mother used to sing to me", at which point he breaks into "The Theme from Love Boat" and Jack joins in with him. And then there is the scenes between Scully and Angus when Scully refers to Angus as a "dumb Swede" even though he is a Scot. It is a good rainy day rental.

John Candy's wit and humor shines through as Jack Chester, the over worked air traffic controller who reluctantly takes a vacation to the beach with his family. The laughs keep coming as Jack and his family spend the summer at the beach with many mishaps occurring throughout the movie. The movie is about family and new friends pulling together, working side by side, believing in a dream and achieving an impossible goal. We've watched this movie many times, but we still laugh and feel good when the movie ends. The standing joke at our home, when we eat dinner out at a restaurant that passes off breaded fish as an expensive seafood item with a fancy name, is "Look - it's Scully's Catch of the day"! This movie is good, clean, family fun - entertainment for the entire family!