Review of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) by Rincemac — 26 Dec 2020

This is the all-time Christmas Classic of the Gen X-ers and one great example on the good old "critics hate it movie" while the audience largely adores it. A great re-watch for old and new viewers for reliving that "perfect Christmas" you never had.

In short, Chevy Chase plays the perfect, struggling somewhat successful Everyman with his perfect middle class family and we follow his struggles and those that he will bring upon his family during the merry season throughout the course of this movie.

Since it's a late 80's movie expect: strange hairdos, big-rimmed glasses, old fashioned land lines and a douchy Executive Director who's Clark's boss and will ride his middle class behind until shortly before the holiday break.

Madness ensues as Clark begins to wonder if the bonus he's always gotten shortly before Christmas - and which seemed to be late this year 'round - would still come on Christmas day or if he and the little secret gift he planned to announce to his adoring family would bankrupt him, since he had to forward the payment for a brand-new swimming pool to add to his middle class house.

The ensemble is just perfect here: Chevy Chase and his family are all the cliché you know from your personal life, while his boss is an adqeuatly nasty affair of a bigwig executive and his neighbors evenly adqequate yuppies, a real scourge of the 80s and 90s in every neighborhood, where we see a (young) Julia Louis-Dreyfus play the snarky overexpectant and never happy wife that spurs her yuppie husband to go above and beyond douchyness to hyper-douchyness. And they do have the very expensive Stereo Set to prove it!

While Clark is being harrassed by his Family as he wants to have that elusive "perfect Christmas", we wonder: is it him or us that are driven mad by all the depictions of Mothers, Fathers and Kids doing clichéd consumerist things that happen at every modern Christmas?

I re-watch this movie as a tradition on Christmas day... never regret it!

It's not the perfect comedy - if that exists it would be "Plains, Trains & Automobiles" - but it's a very solid "National Lampoons/Griswold" entry and top-notch Christmas Fun for all the family. There's one swear, very carefully placed, otherwise it's clean fun. No s*it... well. Outside of the RV S*itter. That one's always full.

Merry Christmas!

PS: On top, this Movie will teach you everything you need to know about Exterior Illumination.