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Written by: John Hughes
Directed by: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, Doris Roberts, Randy Quaid, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.
Verdict
This is such a funny movie, blending the relatable with the ridiculous. The stresses of the holidays including in-laws, find a tree, and installing lights are common. These things turning into a wrecked house, a tree that won't fit in the house, and nearly shutting down the power grid are out of control. Clarke just wants a Christmas holiday that embraces the spirit, but everything that can go wrong seemingly does. The humor can be over the top, but there's also a lot of subtlety to it with these smaller jokes you could easily miss.
Watch It.
Review
Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) just wants the perfect Christmas. He's ebullient, but his kids are apathetic. What makes that situation so funny is that it's so true. This starts with Clark wanting to get a Christmas tree by cutting down one himself. It's a great idea in theory, but not in practice. The movie is a series of events where each one spirals out of control for Clark. Sometimes it's his fault, sometimes it's out of his control. He cuts down the perfect tree that won't even fit in his house.
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| Juliette Lewis, Chevy Chase, Beverly D'angelo, Johnny Galecki play Audrey, Clark, Ellen, Rusty Griswold |
Chase is certainly a ham in this, but all of his mishaps stem from real situations. Unfortunately for Clark all the mishaps happen to him in succession. Attaching lights to your house is a typical tradition, but Clark has to go overboard. What I appreciate about it is that he's stapling the lights to his house. He could easily staple through a strand of lights and short them all. After all that trouble, he can't light them until someone flips that mysterious light switch. Every house has that one switch that you don't know what it does. In Clarke's case it controls his Christmas lights. You can just imagine a house like that in your neighborhood, or may have one, where the people have gone completely overboard.
Clark's yuppie neighbors are the unwitting victims of many of Clark's plans. When they're finally fed up and ready to confront him, that actually works in Clark's favor for once.
In-laws visiting for the holidays are in their own class of humor and horror. Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) is the obnoxious, completely unaware guest that wears out his welcome almost instantly without realizing it. Eddie isn't malicious, he just isn't that bright.
This is such a funny and ridiculous movie. Everything is rooted in the typical experiences, this just takes it up a few notches. I certainly appreciate this movie more the older I get.
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