Summer Rental is a 1985 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner, written by Mark Reisman and Jeremy Stevens, and starring John Candy and Richard Crenna with supporting roles by Rip Torn, Karen Austin, Kerri Green, John Larroquette, Joey Lawrence, Aubrey Jene, Dick Anthony Williams, Richard Herd, Carmine Caridi, Lois Hamilton, Frank McCarthy, Santos Morales, Pierrino Mascarino, Harry Yorku, and Bob Wells.
It tells the story of an overworked air traffic controller who is put on a five weeks' paid leave and takes his family to the fictional resort town of Citrus Cove, Florida as he experiences hilarious mishaps and contends with an arrogant sailing champion.
[4] Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester is given five weeks' paid leave as an alternative to being fired after nearly causing a mid-air collision on the job and having an outburst over a fly covering a radar blip.
He uses this time off to take his wife Sandy and their children; 14-year-old Jennifer, 8-year-old Bobby, and 3-year-old Laurie, on a summer vacation from Atlanta to the fictional Gulf Coast resort town of Citrus Cove, Florida, where they are beset by a barrage of problems.
They are first bumped out of the line of an upscale seafood restaurant in favor of arrogant local sailing champion Al Pellet who becomes Jack's main nemesis.
The family then misreads the address, moves into the wrong house, and are forced to leave in the middle of the night ending up in a decrepit shack on a public beach with a constant stream of beach-goers passing through and its landlord being in the ICU.
When Jack attempts to take Bobby sailing, he suffers a leg injury from a collision with Al that prevents him from spending time with his family.
Al spitefully tears up the check and orders him to leave the house when their first two weeks expire, threatening to personally throw them out should they fail.
On the day of the race, Jack’s youngest daughter, Laurie, requests to go play in the basement of the ship with Yorku, a strange old man with a grey beard.
[10][11] In 2023, the soundtrack was released by 1984 publishing for the first time on gatefold vinyl for Record Store Day, with a limited edition CD version the same year.
[1] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called it "a wan but good-natured hot-weather comedy, with a big debt to National Lampoon's Vacation plus a few nice touches of its own.
"[18] Variety described the film as "more a collection of bits about taking the family to the shore for the summer than a coherent story" and noted that its appeal lays in John Candy's elevation of certain segments.