Writer(s): John Hughes
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki
The hardest movies to look at subjectively are the ones that we gather around the fireplace to watch every year: yes, I am talking about Christmas movies. A lot of them are simply tradition; I don’t doubt many people get yuletide joy out of watching the same movies over and over again during the holiday season (hence the 24-hour A Christmas Story marathons), but I’ve just grown numb to a lot of them. I don’t want to sound like a Scrooge—I like the holiday season and enjoy the atmosphere, so it has nothing to do with that—but once I know every joke and can recite large portions of dialogue from memory, that’s a sign it’s time to skip five years.
And so it can become kind of unfair to review a movie like
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, long after the events have permanently
etched themselves into my brain. Most
Christmas movies I manage to avoid watching annually, but considering this is
my wife and her family’s favorite one, I think I have literally watched it for
at least seven out of the last nine years we’ve been together…very little joy
remains.
By now, I think everyone knows the story, so I will severely
abridge this: It’s Christmastime at the Griswold house, “lead” by Clark (Chevy Chase ), a caring father but hapless dolt of a man
who screws up everything that he touches.
Things don’t get any better when the rest of the immediate family show
up; covering every comedy stereotype from the hard-of-hearing grandma, to the
sour in-laws, and just about everything else in between, it’s ensured that no
one has even an ounce of fun between all the bickering and cartoonish hijinx. Save for the viewer, of course!
It should come as no surprise that, by the end, they all learn a thing or two about
the spirit of Christmas. Well, not so
much the actual biblical meaning of Christmas, but that it’s a time for loving,
and giving, and gathering with loved ones and friends and family. Thankfully, all that happens after we have
had our fill of hilarity, and we can flip off the DVD player (or Blu-Ray, or
VCR) with a renewed sense of holiday cheer.
Christmas Vacation is obvious, the way all Christmas movies
are, but it’s also funny; the jokes come fast and furious, and it’s all
lighthearted and silly stuff. There is a
surprising amount of swearing that I had completely forgotten about (the “s”
word is mentioned around five times, and even “gd” makes an appearance once),
so it’s probably not suitable for young kids, but then again, that’s why it’s
rated PG-13. The cast is perfect in
their roles, especially a pre-insane Randy Quaid, who steals the show as
Clark’s completely-white trash cousin-in-law, and a pre-egotistical Chevy Chase as Clark himself. Julia-Louis Dreyfuss also has a hilarious
role as the Griswold’s rich and stuck-up next door neighbor.
Its only crime is that it’s a holiday tradition, so all the
excitement of sitting down to a viewing has been worn completely thin. But even with this complaint cast aside—even
if this was just a typical movie that wasn’t glued to holiday tradition—it would
still be too obvious and predictable to be any kind of classic. So even though I’ve seen it a dozen times,
and I’m sure the future holds at least a dozen more viewings, I’m confident in
saying that my rating would stay more or less the same.
RECAP: Christmas
Vacation is certainly a funny film, and although years of repeat viewings
have kind of worn the excitement thin for me, even if it wasn’t required annual
viewing, the jokes are too predictable and obvious to be any kind of comedy
classic. Still, it’s great for what it
is, with the whole cast delivering solid performances, and Chevy
Chase , Randy Quaid, and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss standing out as the
best amongst all of them. At the very
least, no matter how terrible your latest Christmas was, chances are it will
always be better than the Griswold’s, simply by default. A pleasant time-waster that will deliver some
yuletide laughter.
RATING: 7/10
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