With the stressful lifestyles most of us are caught up in, and, not to forget, the toll taken on people as aresult of the COVID-19 pandemic, vacations seem to be the ideal break. Whatever your vacationing style happens to be—whether it’s relaxing on a beach, mountain climbing, or backpacking through Europe, or something more low-key with friends, family, or partner(s) — a vacation is meant to relax, share new experiences, and enjoy the company of your travel companions.
Updated: November 2022: To keep this article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated by Wishka Tilakaratne.
Unfortunately, despite your itineraries, preparation, and good intentions, things don’t always go as planned. Cars break down, luggage gets lost, and flights get delayed. These problems, however, sound remarkably less unpleasant thanpredatory dinosaurs, lethal kidnappings, deadly rapids, or being stalked in the remote wilderness. With that in mind, here is a compiled list of the best movies about vacations gone wrong, ranked.
Related:Best Road Trip Movies, Ranked
12Vegas Vacation (1997)
Vegas Vacationis the fourth film in theNational Lampoon’sfilm series. Having finally earned the cash bonus promised to him inNational Lampoon’s: Christmas Vacation,Clark decides to take his family to Vegas. When they arrive, Ellen is courted by lounge singer Wayne Newton, Audrey begins hanging out with cousin Vicki and her exotic dancer friends, and Rusty acquires a fake ID and poses as high-roller Nick Pappagiorgio. Worst of all, Clark becomes addicted to gambling and loses all the family’s money. When Clark finally realizes he has lost sight of what is important, he tries to bring everyone back together. The film series ultimately inspired anHBO series spinoffand areboot film starring Ed Helms.
11Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987)
Planes, Trains, and Automobilespairs comedy legends Steve Martin, andthe late John Candyas Neal Page and Del Griffith, respectively. Page is a high-strung marketing executive on his way home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. Along the way, he encounters Griffith, a traveling salesman. The pair continue to cross paths en route, and despite being polar opposites, they eventually form a friendship. The movie was a hit amongst film critics who praised John Hughes for graduating from teen comedies and embracing an adult comedy.The film has become a Thanksgiving classicamong audiences.
10The Hangover (2009)
Released in 2009,The Hangoveris the first ina comedy trilogyby Todd Phillips. The film follows four friends who take a trip to Las Vegas hoping to celebrate Doug’s (Justin Bartha) last few days as a bachelor. However, everything takes a turn when they are drugged by Alan (Zach Galifianakis), Doug’s future brother-in-law, who assumed the drugs were ecstasy. The group has one hectic night and wakes up to find the bachelor missing, a toddler in the cupboard, and no memory of the night. With this, the film follows the journey of the best friends trying to retrace the steps to find the missing Doug before his wedding. From some astounding revelations and absurd acts, the film is filled with humor.
9Due Date (2010)
Due Datestars Robert Downey Jr. as Peter Highman, a man traveling from Atlanta to Los Angeles for the birth of his first child. While on the plane, an obnoxious fellow traveler, Ethan Tremblay (Zack Galifianakis) gets added to the no-fly list for talking about bombs and terrorists. Peter subsequently joins Ethan on the no-fly list by mistakenly swapping bags with Ethan, who had cannabis in his luggage. Ethan invites Peter to join him on a road trip, to which Peter reluctantly agrees, for lack of better options. Along the way, the pair get into some trouble, such as a physical altercation with a Western Union employee, an accidental gunshot wound, and escaping lock-up at the Mexican border.
8The River Wild (1994)
On a family rafting trip in Idaho, Gail and Tom Hartman (played by Meryl Streep and David Strathairn) and their son Roarke (Joseph Mazello) meet another group of rafters, Wade (Kevin Bacon) Terry (John C. Reilly), and Frank (William Lucking), all of whom seem friendly enough. The following day they meet the same group, but one of the three men is missing, Frank, the duo’s river guide. A former guide herself, Gail offers to help Wade and Terry get to the next drop-off point. Little do the Hartmans know, the pair have recently robbed a cattle auction and intend to hide on the river to evade police. The duo holds the family hostage and forces Gail to guide them down the river at gunpoint through treacherous rapids.
7Jurassic Park (1993)
In the originalJurassic Park,wealthy businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) and a team of scientists bring dinosaurs back from extinction, to form a fantastical theme park. John’s grandchildren Tim (Joseph Mazello) and Lex (Ariana Richards) are invited to visit the park with various other people including paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), the paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum). Things go terribly wrong when the dinosaurs escape their enclosures and hunt down the park visitors.Jurassic Parkspawned five sequels:The Lost World: Jurassic Park,Jurassic Park III,Jurassic World,Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, andJurassic World: Dominion.
Related:10 Wild Animal Movies That Will Keep You Out of the Woods Forever
6Breakdown (1997)
Breakdowntells the tale of a husband and wife Jeff and Amy Taylor (played by Kurt Russell and Kathleen Quinlan) who are moving from Massachusetts to California. Rather than fly, the pair decide to take a road trip in their new Jeep Grand Cherokee. En route, their vehicle breaks down, and Amy accepts a ride from a stranger to a nearby diner to call for help. Jeff soon realizes that the battery had been tampered with; he reconnects it and immediately sets out to look for Amy. Upon arriving at the diner, no one has seen her or the vehicle she was in. Jeff begins to investigate her disappearance with the help of some locals and soon comes to realize she is being held for ransom. According to The GuardianBreakdownis a streaming gem.
5The Vanishing (1993)
The Vanishingis a remake ofGeorge Sluizer’s 1988 French-Dutch film of the same name. The movie begins with Jeff Harriman (Kiefer Sutherland) and Diane Shaver (Sandra Bullock) a couple on vacation together. When the pair stop at a gas station, Diane goes in for drinks while Jeff waits in the car. Diane, however, never returns but rather disappears without a trace. Diane’s mysterious disappearance happens within the first 10 minutes of the film. The rest of the movie is set 3 years into the future and follows Jeff’s insatiable desire to find out what happened to Diane on that fateful day.
4Us (2019)
A major hit by Jordan Peele,Usfollows the protagonist Adelaide Wilson (Lupita Nyong’o). The film opens with a young Adelaide getting lost at a fun house and being traumatized by some incident that occurs inside it. Years later, an adult Adelaide, along with her family, goes on a vacation which she is not quite eager about. Not so surprisingly, Adelaide’s instincts seem to be on point as the family is attacked by their own clones. Following this, Peele takes the viewer on a hectic journey and finally ends the film with one of the biggest plot twists ever.Usmightnot be just a horror filmthat focuses on a vacation gone wrong, as the film has much to say about the society we live in.
3Deliverance (1972)
Deliveranceis a shocking thriller starring Jon Voigt, Burt Reynolds,the late Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox as a group of friends from Atlanta, who decide to canoe down a river in the Georgia wilderness before a dam is constructed. While taking a break in the woods, Ed and Bobby are confronted by two hillbillies with a shotgun. The pair forces Bobby to undress and sexually assaults him. Lewis discovers what is happening and kills the assaulter with his bow and arrow. After the horrific incident, the men must decide how to deal with the murdered man and his armed companion who ran off into the wilderness.
