It’s Christmas week, and surely families will be gathering in their homes together to drink egg nog, feast on sweets and snacks, and also, to watch some of their favorite Christmas films. The Christmas film market has always been huge which is why there are constantly new releases just about every year around this time. Much of what comes out however is unlikely to hold a candle to the Christmas movies of yesterday. Of those who may be in the mood for something a little less generic than the usual holiday flick, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation should do the trick.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation film revolves around how things can go from bad to worse on their family outings.
The National Lampoon Vacation films franchise consists of four films led by Chevy Chase, with a fifth addition starring Ed Helms which extended the universe. They’re all similar to one another, apart from the difference in their vacation themes, but Christmas Vacation could almost be considered a stand-alone movie. The key word being ‘almost’. As with all of the Griswold’s family vacations, the film revolves around how things can go from bad to worse on their family outings. Christmas Vacation is no exception to this, only this time, the Griswolds are at their home hosting a family Christmas. As per usual, things eventually spiral out of control to the point of almost ruining their time with one another.
Christmas Vacation is both fun and relatable, as most everyone knows the troubles of sheltering families and their extended families together all under one roof. It always sounds like a good idea, until it actually happens. Jeremiah Chechik captures the essence of this with sheer unblemished comedic know-how. Chevy Chase is the obvious catalyst of the majority of the film’s comedy. In his day, he really did have it all. He’s sarcastic, passive aggressive, and his occasional physical comedy adds to the scripts already remarkably structured discourse. Cousin Eddie can’t be left out either. In signature fashion, Randy Quaid’s character eventually shows up at the worst possible time to give the chaos just that much more of a nudge in the right direction. The straight man (woman) is as always, Beverly D’Angelo. Playing the wife Ellen, D’Angelo is necessary in reacting to everything Chase does, making the situations all the more amusing. In spite of all that is funny about Christmas Vacation, it still gets around to showing itself as a Christmas movie, highlighting the importance of family and the meaning of the Christmas season.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is not the average holiday film, but it is a classic one. It should also be noted that it carries a PG-13 rating, meaning that though there is the occasional dirty humor or profane language, it is not so abhorrent that families should worry about their children watching it. The jokes are there, but only so much so that the adults will catch it and the youth will miss it. HBO MAX offers it up for subscription holders. Otherwise it’s available across multiple platforms for rent or purchase. So Merry Christmas, and enjoy!
