Review of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) by Matthew D — 19 May 2012

Hilarious, but lowbrow.

Christmas Vacation (1989) is a crazy Christmas with the in-laws comedy. Laughs laughs come from John Hughes' hilarious and witty script criticizing family traditions and annoyances delivered by a wild cast of characters. Jeremiah Chechik's direction is pretty standard, but fast paced. The movie goes on for too long and feels very sleazy and low brow in general, as do all the National Lampoon films, but it is still funny to me.

I cannot say this is a great film, but it sure is a funny comedy. Whereas the gross out humor and adolescent jokes fall flat for me now, the general wit and good nature of Christmas Vacation still hits home. From Clark Griswold looking through old family home movies to dreaming of a pool for his family, Christmas Vacation understands the true meaning of Christmas by spending time with your loved ones.

Chevy Chase is as dumb a movie father as there ever was, but he is great as the bumbling oaf Clark Griswold. His desperation for the perfection holiday time for his family is endearing and hilarious as he messes up every scenario imaginable. Beverly D'Angelo is so sweet and charming as Ellen Griswold. You feel her pain as she tries to make up for all of Clark's mistakes.

Randy Quaid is really too much as the redneck relative Eddie. His gross out humor and sheer stupidity are funny at times, but wear you down with his pure idiocy. The kids, Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki, are fun caricatures of teenagers that hate everything their parents do.

On the other hand, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss is hilarious as the hipster neighbor that hates the Griswolds. Her rage and disgust for Clark's family always makes me chuckle.

I absolutely love William Hickey the most of the supporting cast. Once his Uncle Lewis characters arrives, the jokes keep coming with his deadpan gravelly voice. Hickey's grumpy persona and hateful disgust at his family's revelries is just delightful to watch. I wish he was in Christmas Vacation more.

Overall, most audiences will love Christmas Vacation for the consistent amount of laughs and holiday spoof scenes. I just do not find it all that interesting and having seen this movie at least 10 times, I find it less funny each time. It's not a classic film, but it's not trying to be, honestly. Christmas Vacation is a viewing meant for laughter alone in all its frivolous nonsense.