Review of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) by Christopher S — 05 Dec 2011

Like most people Christmas is filled with Traditions....Whether it be Baking Cookies with Grandma or maybe Going to see the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting. One of my many traditions has to do with one particular film and in my opinion One of the greatest Christmas/Holiday Films ever produced. That my friends is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and with that I give you Day 4 of Our little 25 days of Christmas Movies Marathon!

Quick Recap for those of you stuck in a cave with limited Wi-fi (I mean how else are you reading my review?) "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is the third installment in the popular "Vacation" series. This time, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), his wife Helen (Beverly D'Angelo) and their kids, Rusty (Johnny Galecki from Roseanne/Big Bang Theory) and Andrey (Juliette Lewis) decide to stay home and enjoy the holiday, rather than take a road trip like the previous two. Clark's goal is to have what he calls an "old-fashioned family Christmas," and as a result, his parents and Ellen's parents show up to spend Christmas at the Griswold house. Eventually, the house is filled with more family members, with Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) and his brood showing up unexpectedly, and Clark's Uncle Louis and Aunt Bethany showing up on Christmas Eve. Clark's Christmas holiday is suddenly getting bigger and also turning into a mess. Like Murphy's Law..Anything that can go wrong...Will, especially during the holidays.

What makes Christmas Vacation so great and elevates it from being just another generic Christmas movie is a brilliant script by John Hughes packed full of hilarious moments and perfect comic timing from Chevy Chase and the rest of the cast. This is easily Chase's best role. He is simply irresistable in this movie with some of the most memorable quotes coming from him. 2nd to Chase's performance is Cousin Eddie, played by Randy Quaid. He adds that depth of goofiness that many comedies lack nowadays. He's a scene stealer, who's naturally funny everytime he's on screen. Yet to be fair there isn't a weak link in the bunch and many scene stealers in this film... From William Hickey & Mae Questel(The voice of Betty Boop) as Uncle Lewis & Aunt Bethany to Doris Roberts(Everybody loves Raymond) & Julia Louis-Dreyfus(Seinfeld), everyone has a memorable scene. Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) gets the call to play Rusty, replacing Anthony Michael Hall & Jason Lively. To me he doesn't have quite the charm of AMH but does a better job then Lively. The same goes for Juliette Lewis, who went on to be a pretty big star after this. She doesn't have the charms of Dana Barron or Dana Hill but she wasn't given much to do anyway. Notable performances from Beverly D'Angelo who is also great as the always-at-her-husband's-side Ellen. Also Brian Doyle-Murray, Diane Ladd and Sam McMurray round out a great all-around cast.

Call me a sucker for "Christmas Vacation" I just can't get enough of it. Overall, `Christmas Vacation' establishes itself as one of the best Christmas films to emerge out of Tinseltown in the last twenty (+)years. It just parodies the season we all love so well, that it has become, for me, a Christmas tradition.