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This week (in no particular order but with some very strong connections): Cinematic father figure/role models in Walt Disney Films. Kenny Loggins, Lindsey Buckingham, and great movie theme songs. Chevy Chase and three Chapter Twos from the 1980s. Appallingly unfunny comedies.

"Here's some money. Go buy yourself a better tie. You look like a Pee-Wee Herman doll." - The single line from Caddyshack II that made me chuckle.

Thirty years later, I still can't explain why my five-year-old-self thought Chevy Chase was so badass. Was it his lovable loser-ness in films like Seems Like Old Times and Oh, Heavenly Dog? Did I identify with his aura of pre-possessed cool, which he somehow maintained even in the face of pratfalls and sight gags? Was there something comforting about that ridiculous chin and prominent mole? Perhaps it was all of these. My fear is that I was attracted to the impenetrable layers of irony he brought to most of his roles. At the height of his popularity in the 1980s, I don't believe there was a more ironic American actor. While Robin Williams, at his worst, could bring a movie to a grinding halt with uncalled for bits of standup and improv that he somehow smuggled into the moment, Chase, at his worst, seemed to be making every effort not to relate to the possible sincerity of any given moment in his films. In other words, what seemed like an ingratiating too-cool-for-school attitude once upon a time is now revealed as pure and utter assholery and contempt.

Given the context of the film, this could either be appropriate, in which case it might manage to come across as genius (Ty Webb, his beyond Zen golfer in Caddyshack, is a prime example), or it could be revealed as bilious contempt for the film, the audience and himself (his reprise of Ty Webb in Caddyshack II nails this perfectly). I think it would be accurate to say that Chase's two most well known and beloved characterizations are Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher in Fletch and Fletch Lives and Clark Wilhelm Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation and several films since then (this being Chapter Two, I will focus on European Vacation).

A recent article in Entertainment Weekly celebrating the 25th anniversary of Fletch convincingly made a case for it as an under-rated comic gem. The case is well argued but this member of the jury still isn't buying it. I didn't catch it until it had been on home video for some time and I definitely saw Fletch Lives first but neither one struck me as excessively quotable or incessantly funny. Would my opinion change once I took another look at these three franchises, two of which feature his Ironic-ness quite prominently? One thing is for certain. My love for Vacation and Chase's portrayal of Griswold has not dimmed. This could be because of Harold Ramis' direction and John Hughes' script as much as anything. It could also be because Clark is in the long line of well meaning but doofus-y father figures best typified by, of all things, live-action films from the Walt Disney studio. (In writing this, it strikes me how much Vacation really is like an R-rated Disney film). For further clarification of what exactly I mean by all this, please to enjoy this week's stream-of-consciousness detours.

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