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Ah Christmas, it’s the time of year that brings me back to my childhood, remembering those mornings I would wake up early and sneak a peek a the tempting presents sitting under the tree. But besides the nostalgic memories and sweet present receiving, Christmas is about family. Even the most cynical and jaded individual should be able to look past the consumerist nature of the holiday and appreciate being able to share an enormous feast with their nearest and dearest. However, family time doesn’t always equal a good time, a point that National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation drives home. At its heart this is a film is about a father trying to have the greatest Christmas of all time with his family, but as is the way with the comedies, this noble plan doesn’t quite go as planned.
A continuation of the Griswold family’s adventures that started with National Lampoon’s Vacation and continued in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, Christmas Vacation sees the world’s most dysfunctional family return to systematically destroy Christmas for themselves and everyone around them. Things start out straightforward enough, with Clark Griswold kicking his plan to have a “good, old-fashioned Christmas” into action by attempting to cut down a Christmas tree with his own two hands for the first time. Unfortunately even this simplest of tasks soon turns into a disaster. With the perfect tree located, it suddenly dawns on Clarke that he has forgotten to bring anything to cut it down with. His solution? To tear from the ground roots and all. With the roots hanging out of the tree and his family suffering hypothermia, Clark continues on his quest for the perfect Christmas. Unfortunately for his family but fortunately for the viewer, things get much, much worse from there.
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In many ways, Christmas Vacation could be seen as the granddaddy of the everything-goes-wrong slapstick comedy genre. Nothing goes right for Clark, much to the dismay of his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), son Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis). His attempts at hooking up the ultimate Christmas lights display temporarily blacks out the entire neighbourhood, a rodent hiding in his tree causes chaos, but worst of all, Ellen’s redneck cousin Eddie comes to stay unannounced. This immediately causes friction within the household, with Eddie’s lazy, disgusting mannerisms quickly getting on Clark’s nerves. Their bickering is laugh out loud funny, but it’s also sincere and relatable. After all, we all have annoying family members.
There in lies perhaps the greatest trait of Christmas Vacation, it’s a film that we can all connect to on some level. Many of the scenarios featured in it may be a little farfetched, but they’re also believable. It’s not hard to imagine just how much having the entire family over to stay for Christmas would drive you up the wall. But while Christmas Vacation could easily have just relied on the comedic aspect of a Christmas with the family gone wrong, the film also has a sweet underside. Clark mistakenly finds himself trapped in the house’s attic at one point of the film, so with nothing to do he searches around and uncovers an old super 8 projector and some film reels. Unsure of what he is about to watch, Clark discovers that the reels contain old family memories. Moved by the images of him as a child playing with his parents, Clark sits in the attic alone as tears well in his eyes. It’s an incredibly moving moment that ends with another moment of hilarious slapstick comedy right on cue.
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Christmas Vacation has to be right up there with the very best family Christmas films of all time. Its brand of humour may verge on crude at points, but its universal enough to be enjoyed by any age. It features one of Chevy Chase’s best comedic roles to date as well as long string of genuine belly laughs, but most importantly of all, it’s a film full of Christmas cheer. With its warm characters and focus on family, Christmas Vacation is a film that leaves a warm fuzzy feeling in the heart no matter how many times you’ve seen it.
