Theme Song: There are a lot of Bananarama songs in this movie.
Interesting Dated References: Palm Springs as a hot destination for college-aged groups; carrying around a boombox with a dual-cassette.
Best Line: In reference to partying very hard — “Get it up, but keep it down.”
Social Context: Nerd/virgin-specific teen sex comedies exploded in the early-to-mid ‘80s and Fraternity Vacation follows the expected formula (nerd runs into shit, then nerd ends up with hot girl).
Summary: Rich, nerdy frat-pledge Wendell (Stephen Geofferys, Fright Night) takes his frat brothers on a vacation to Palm Springs on his parents’ dime. Frat brothers Joe (Cameron Dye, Body Rock) and Mother (Tim Robbins, Dangerous Kids) are tasked by Wendell’s dad to get him laid.
They give Wendell a Miami Vice-style makeover and proceed to “party.” Despite Wendell’s new look, he continually knocks shit over and runs into people because that’s what the writer of Fraternity Vacation thinks nerds do.
Rival frat guys Chas and J.C. run into Joe and Mother and make a bet on who can get local hot chick Ashlee (Sheree Wilson) into bed first.
They proceed to lie to each other and con Ashlee into various pity dates and pseudo-sexual situations. Meanwhile, Wendell starts dating a girl named Nicole (Amanda Bearse, Married with Children) only to run afoul of her sheriff father.
Eventually Ashlee uncovers the bet and rejects the jockular dudes. Then she falls in love with, and bangs, Wendell. Everyone stands around laughing. Nobody ever addresses why Ashlee appears to live alone and not have any friends.
Worth Mentioning:
– Charles Rocket (Saturday Night Live ‘80) shows up as Madman Mac the wacky radio DJ who is also the wacky club DJ. Since it’s the ‘80s, everyone in town listens to the same radio station.
– Britt Ekland plays a waitress who is on camera for 4 seconds.
– There are boobs in this movie if all you care about are boobs in movies.
– I was too angry to bother noticing that John Vernon (Golden Rendezvous, Dirty Harry, Animal House.) and Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator) are also in this movie.
– The top of Tim Robbins head is cropped out of every group shot.
Poster and Box Art: Incredible work from illustrator Craig Nelson whose credits include posters for Monster Squad, and Garbage Pail Kids: The Movie.
Serious levels of awesome detail going on:
Also very nice treatment on the wordmark used on the poster and in the film:
Availability: Available on various double- and triple-pack dvds.