My quick rating - 8.5/10. How I have never actually reviewed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation before is beyond me, especially considering this thing has been burned into my DNA through decades of annual rewatches. And when I say “classic,” I don’t mean polite, background-noise classic. I mean full-blown, never-gets-old, laugh-even-though-you-know-the-punchline-is-coming classic. This is assuming, of course, you appreciate the finely tuned chaos of John Hughes’ writing and a cast that could sell a joke with a raised eyebrow and a well-timed glance. So another year, another rewatch, this time with notes, a cold beer, and a renewed appreciation for just how perfectly unhinged this movie really is.
The Griswold family’s plan for a big, wholesome Christmas predictably collapses within minutes, starting with the ill-advised family trip to cut down a “little” Christmas tree. From there, the film just keeps stacking disasters like Clark stacks extension cords. One-liners, slapstick, visual gags - it’s all here, deployed so effortlessly it feels almost unfair to other comedies. The house-lighting scene alone could fuel a dozen holiday traditions, and that bit with Clark hiding the present still lands every single time. I could honestly list scenes all day and not run out.
Then there’s the pool fantasy sequence, which somehow manages to be both iconic and completely devoid of nudity, a minor miracle that speaks volumes about Chevy Chase’s commitment to physical comedy and Jeremiah S. Chechik’s pitch-perfect direction. It doesn’t hurt that Nicolette Scorsese’s appearances, both at the store and poolside, are seared into cinematic, we'll call it, history. Chase’s Clark Griswold is a man powered entirely by optimism, denial, and the belief that his Christmas bonus will fix everything.
This is easily my favorite of all the Vacation films, and the supporting cast is a huge reason why. Beverly D’Angelo’s Ellen is the calm eye in the storm, Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki are perfectly cast as the perpetually confused Griswold kids, and there’s a delightful pre-Friends sighting of Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the aggressively judgmental neighbor. Clark’s bad luck escalates daily, especially once the extended family arrives, but he soldiers on, clinging to the promise of that bonus like it’s a sacred relic.
And then Uncle Eddie shows up. If you’ve seen the first Vacation, you know exactly the flavor of insanity Randy Quaid brings to the table. And yes, the sledding scene remains an all-timer, physics be damned. By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, the movie is firing jokes at machine-gun speed, including Aunt Bethany’s cat-related “gift,” which ends in one of the darkest, funniest sight gags ever put in a holiday movie.
When the bonus finally arrives, if you think it’s going to end well, you clearly haven’t been paying attention. I mean, it wouldn’t be Christmas Vacation if the Chicago SWAT team didn’t get involved. If you somehow haven’t seen this movie yet, you truly don’t know what you’re missing. Forever a staple of my annual Christmas viewing - and it probably should be in yours too.
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