Ed Helms to star as Rusty Griswold in 'Vacation' reboot

Ed Helms' characters' never catch a break, and that bad luck is likely to continue since Helms has signed on to play Clark Griswold's grown son, Rusty, in the reboot of the Vacation franchise. The casting of Helms even makes sense, age-wise. Helms is 38 and Chevy Chase, who played the original patriarch, is 68, so it's plausible they could be father and son. In this version, Rusty will continue the family tradition and take his own kids on a road trip vacation.

It's been 15 years since the underperforming Vegas Vacation released and helped put an end to the franchise. I actually loved this one as a kid, and it's ten times funnier than 1985's European Vacation, which mainly trades on "Ugly American" tropes. The series classics, of course, are the original 1983 Vacation, which centered on a road trip to Wally World, and 1989's Christmas Vacation, which has that holiday movie blessing of showing up on TV every December as seasonal fare.

The thing that differentiated the Vacation series was that it had a heart. Clark wanted to spend time with his family and make them have "the best time ever," but bad luck and over-ambition usually got in the way. I hope Rusty has an iteration of his father's character, and that writer/directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses) don't try to pull a 180 and make him the stereotypical Blackberry-addicted dad more prevalent today. The earnestness is key.

Helms' star image is right-on for the Vacation project. His characters often start out earnest, naive, and striving ("The Office"). In his films (The Hangover, Cedar Rapids), the characters go a step further, partying and misbehaving and then suffering way more consequences than the average Joe. That includes getting tattooed, losing teeth, or discovering you've just turned your life into shambles. Helms' comedic image is quite similar--but significantly different--than Steve Carell's, his co-star on "The Office." I wouldn't be surprised if Carell was also considered for the role. Carell tends to play timid characters who quietly come into their own (40-Year-Old Virgin, Crazy Stupid Love, and Seeking a Friend at the End of the World). If you were to have both Helms and Carell re-enact the scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark installs Christmas lights, to much frustration and some (pretty dangerous) physical comedy, I would pick Helms. If all goes according to schedule, filming for the comedy will begin next spring.