The Great Outdoors poster

The Great Outdoors

This is no holiday… this is war!

6.5(648)19881h 31m4

It's vacation time for outdoorsy Chicago man Chet Ripley, along with his wife, Connie, and their two kids, Buck and Ben. But a serene weekend of fishing at a Wisconsin lakeside cabin gets crashed by Connie's obnoxious brother-in-law, Roman Craig, his wife, Kate, and the couple's two daughters. As the excursion wears on, the Ripleys find themselves at odds with the stuffy Craig family.

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Status
Released
Budget
$24M
Box office
$43.5M
Language
English
  • attachment to nature
  • holiday
  • roommates
  • wisconsin
  • grizzly bear
  • cabin
  • best friend
  • family holiday

Top billed cast

Behind the camera

Produced in

United States of America

Where to watch

All options

Availability for India. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.

Gallery

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Videos

Release dates

  • United StatesUS

    • TheatricalPG17 Jun 1988
  • United KingdomGB

    • PremierePG26 Jun 1989
  • AustraliaAU

    • TheatricalPG15 Sept 1988
  • BrazilBR

    • Theatrical1217 Jun 1988
  • DenmarkDK

    • Physical1117 Jun 1988
  • FranceFR

    • Physical6 Jan 2004
  • GermanyDE

    • Theatrical617 Apr 1990
  • NorwayNO

    • Theatrical1217 Jun 1988

Frequently asked questions

The Great Outdoors was released on 17 June 1988.

Audience reviews

3
  • K

    Kamurai

    2/24/2021

    4/10

    Decent watch at best, probably won't watch again, but can recommend for those on a late-eighties nostalgia kick. Sometimes it is good to get in "The Way Back Machine" and see some of the movies that made people famous, and I liked Dan Aykroyd and John Candy. The duplicitous plot and character choices just didn't sit great with me. Having recently seen "Brother Nature", it is interesting to see a movie that cou…

  • K

    kevin2019

    8/2/2024

    5/10

    "The Great Outdoors" is only a moderately entertaining film, although it does feature the unforgettably spectacular sight of John Candy water skiing. The grizzly bear action also works well and there is always an enthusiastic energy about this film which every member of the cast effortlessly maintains, but in terms of John Hughes's output this entry is not one of his more memorable outings and some of it does feel li…

  • P

    Phills2

    8/8/2026

    4/10

    If you took a Vacation film and filled in the blanks with different character names and places, you'd have a movie like this. It has all of the same ingredients but the emotional feeling behind them is lost. John Candy could play the Griswold part, Dan Ankryd the Cousine Eddie part, a different girl plays Rusty's girlfriend he meets in Europe, and so forth. I don't even recognize who plays the part of John Candy's sc…

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