Great Outdoors

This hit-and-miss 1988 comedy pairs John Candy and Dan Aykroyd in a story of one family's summer vacation all but ruined by the uninvited appearance of another, more loutish family. Howard Deutch (Some Kind of Wonderful) directs from a half-hearted John Hughes script, which reduces Hughes's jokes-and-epiphanies formula (The Breakfast Club, Home Alone) to true gaudiness. On the other hand, Annette Bening makes her screen debut here. The DVD release has a widescreen presentation, production notes, trailer, optional French soundtrack, and optional Spanish subtitles. --Tom Keogh