Movie Info
Movie Name: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Studio: Warner Bros.
Genre(s): Comedy/Family/Seasonal
Release Date(s): December 1, 1989
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Light up the holidays with the Griswolds
Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) has a goal: the best Christmas ever for his family. He’s planning a pool for the family as soon as his boss (Brian Doyle-Murray) comes through with his bonus, and he’s going to have the best light display in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, his whole family is coming for Christmas and when his wife’s brother Randy shows up with his family, Christmas is going to get a whole lot more crowded at the Griswold house. Will the family survive or will they end up killing each other before Christmas morning?
Directed by Jeremiah Chechik, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a family holiday comedy. Following National Lampoon’s European Vacation in 1985, the movie was written by John Hughes and based on his short National Lampoon 1980 story “Christmas ’59”. The movie was met with positive reviews and a strong box office return.
I watched Vacation over and over again growing up (we had a video copy taped off of HBO). We saw European Vacation in the theater (probably the first PG-13 movie I went to)…then our family oddly skipped Christmas Vacation until it was on video. The film is fun and now is a holiday staple.
S*@!er was full!
Christmas Vacation works because of Chevy Chase’s pure glee in the holiday experience. He loves Christmas and shows it in every shot. Like for many people, the holidays are one of the best times of the year, and they are also one of the most frustrating. His attempts to make the best holiday continuously backfires for him and the control is taken from him. It is this frustration that people can identify with. If you don’t know a Clark Griswold, you might be a Clark Griswold.
The movie also has a great supporting cast. Beverly D’Angelo continues to be a nice balance to Chase’s exasperation. Clark’s children were de-aged this time with Johnny Galecki and Juliette Lewis as his sarcastic children. The in-laws of John Randolph and Diane Ladd (as Clark’s parents) and E. G. Marshall and Doris Roberts (as Ellen’s parents). You also have to love the yuppie neighbors Todd and Margo played by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The scene stealer of course is Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid)…he steals every scene…and commentary reveals that is a water-bottle shoved in his pants…you know the scene.
To be honest, whose Christmas doesn’t end like this…
The movie has a classic look. It has all the magic and twinkles of a holiday film mixed with slapstick and some crude humor at points. The dinner table, the Christmas tree, and of course the lights add to Clark’s zeal and help built the Christmas spirit within the film (though I never was a big fan of the sledding scene).
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become a Christmas institution along with other modern classics like Home Alone. Now, as families gather for the holiday, they also gather around and watch the Griswolds celebrate the season…something that Clark would have loved. The movie was followed by Vegas Vacation in 1997 and a made-for-TV sequel to Christmas Vacation in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure in 2003.
Related Links:
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)
National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985)
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure (2003)
