Christmas Vacation DVD
Warner Home Video
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
Length: 97 minutes
Director: Jeremiah Chechik
Year: (1989)
Britt Gillette's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation DVD Review
Hands down, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is the best Christmas comedy ever filmed. I make it habit to watch this movie about ten million times between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Even after seeing the film so many times that I can recite it word-for-word, Christmas Vacation remains as hilarious and entertaining as the previous holiday season. More than just a seasonal film, it's one of those rare comedies that it near perfect from beginning to end.
Following the ongoing exploits of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and the Griswold family, this particular rendition of the classic Vacation movies is arguably the best. As in the previous films, Clark's goal is to create the perfect vacation for his family. Only this time, instead of hitting the road for Wally World, the Griswolds stay at home in suburban Chicago.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (mere months away from signing on to play Elaine on Seinfeld) makes several appearances as Clark's annoying, yuppie neighbor Margot - a character accompanied by her equally yuppie partner, Todd (Nicholas Guest). Randy Quaid makes a return appearance as Cousin Eddie (playing the same role from the original Vacation film). As Clark's less-cultured relative, Eddie is a man whose "heart is bigger than his brain". Beverly D'Angelo also returns in her previous role as Clark's wife, Ellen.
When Clark vows to create "the most fun-filled old-fashioned family Christmas ever," things naturally go awry. With the Griswold family and their in-laws living under one roof, the relatives constantly get on each other's nerves. Clark sets out to decorate the house for Christmas, and his quest culminates in a 25,000 light extravaganza that cover every square inch of the house. In the process, he nearly breaks his neck several times and knocks out Todd and Margot's window with a flying lance of roof gutter ice.
The laughs multiply several times over when Cousin Eddie arrives uninvited and parks the family RV in the Griswold driveway. He brings his wife Catherine, their two kids Ruby Sue and Rocky, and their lovely dog "Snots". The crescendo of disaster steadily increases as Christmas Day approaches with the agony compounded by Clark's failure to receive his annual Christmas bonus. Clark's big Christmas surprise for the family is that he's putting in a pool, but in order to start work as soon as the ground thawed out, he had to put down a hefty deposit which his check won't cover without the Christmas bonus.
After a Christmas Eve in which the turkey explodes, Aunt Bethany's cat electrocutes itself, Uncle Lewis burns down the tree, and a squirrel gets loose in the house, a late night knock on the door gives Clark hope. A deliveryman hands him an envelope which fell between the seats - the fabled Christmas bonus.
But when the bonus turns out to be a membership in the Jelly-Of-The-Month Club instead of the cash he expected, Clark goes nuts. He extensively curses his boss, Frank Shirley, and tells the family that a nice Christmas gift would be Shirley wrapped in big red bow. Wanting to do something nice for Clark, Cousin Eddie takes the request literally. He kidnaps Mr. Shirley and delivers him to the Griswold house where Mr. Shirley reveals he cut out Christmas bonuses this year. Clark confronts him, and Mr. Shirley agrees that it was the wrong thing to do. He reinstates the bonuses, and tells Clark to add twenty percent. The whole family erupts in celebration, but their Christmas party is soon crashed by a SWAT team which takes the house by siege.
Originally released in 1989, Christmas Vacation has surprisingly
little content that makes it look "dated". As such, it's certain
to be a holiday viewing tradition for generations to come…
Britt Gillette
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Posted on 30 November 2004