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#757 - Christmas Vacation
Jeremiah Chechik, 1989
A middle-class family man wants to put on the perfect Christmas for his family but is beset by all sorts of obstacles.
I somehow managed to see the other three [i[Vacation[/i] movies at a young age without seeing Christmas Vacation all the way through, only ever seeing it in bits and pieces throughout the years without ever being sure that I'd seen the whole thing from start to finish. This year, I decided to rectify that. While its two predecessors were road movies at heart that followed the Griswolds' trips across America and Europe respectively, Christmas Vacation keeps its action planted firmly in the family's suburban home; however, it still follows the same basic premise of a family man (Chevy Chase) planning to do whatever it takes to give his family the ideal holiday. Naturally, he is forced to deal with all sorts of complications great and small that threaten to undermine his simple goal; a wide variety of difficult in-laws, a Scrooge-like boss, technical difficulties with the Christmas decorations, and much more.
Even if I hadn't already seen the bulk of the film in snippets over the years, I'd probably still have trouble gleaning any significant levels of amusement even on the basic level on which this film works. That's not to say that there isn't the odd moment here or there that works but they tend to yield quiet mirth rather than raucous laughter, which is something of a problem considering this film's apparently broad and out-sized comedic nature. If anything, the film's best moments tend to make me question just where the line is between a running gag and a flat-out recycled joke - look no further that Chase once again launching into a profane and deranged tirade after his well-intentioned plans come crashing down around his head at the end of the second act (or the distractingly obvious rip-off of the notorious poolside fantasy scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Adding a thick layer of Christmas schmaltz to the proceedings doesn't sweeten the deal much either, especially as certain revelations concerning Chase's white-trash relatives come to light. Christmas Vacation does feature enough half-decent gags to not come across as painfully unfunny but none of them go far enough to stop the film as a whole coming across as a largely laugh-free bore. I do wonder if I would've liked this more had I actually seen it at a younger age, but given how I don't have a high opinion of the other Vacation movies anyway then that's probably unlikely. Oh, well.
Jeremiah Chechik, 1989
A middle-class family man wants to put on the perfect Christmas for his family but is beset by all sorts of obstacles.
I somehow managed to see the other three [i[Vacation[/i] movies at a young age without seeing Christmas Vacation all the way through, only ever seeing it in bits and pieces throughout the years without ever being sure that I'd seen the whole thing from start to finish. This year, I decided to rectify that. While its two predecessors were road movies at heart that followed the Griswolds' trips across America and Europe respectively, Christmas Vacation keeps its action planted firmly in the family's suburban home; however, it still follows the same basic premise of a family man (Chevy Chase) planning to do whatever it takes to give his family the ideal holiday. Naturally, he is forced to deal with all sorts of complications great and small that threaten to undermine his simple goal; a wide variety of difficult in-laws, a Scrooge-like boss, technical difficulties with the Christmas decorations, and much more.
Even if I hadn't already seen the bulk of the film in snippets over the years, I'd probably still have trouble gleaning any significant levels of amusement even on the basic level on which this film works. That's not to say that there isn't the odd moment here or there that works but they tend to yield quiet mirth rather than raucous laughter, which is something of a problem considering this film's apparently broad and out-sized comedic nature. If anything, the film's best moments tend to make me question just where the line is between a running gag and a flat-out recycled joke - look no further that Chase once again launching into a profane and deranged tirade after his well-intentioned plans come crashing down around his head at the end of the second act (or the distractingly obvious rip-off of the notorious poolside fantasy scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Adding a thick layer of Christmas schmaltz to the proceedings doesn't sweeten the deal much either, especially as certain revelations concerning Chase's white-trash relatives come to light. Christmas Vacation does feature enough half-decent gags to not come across as painfully unfunny but none of them go far enough to stop the film as a whole coming across as a largely laugh-free bore. I do wonder if I would've liked this more had I actually seen it at a younger age, but given how I don't have a high opinion of the other Vacation movies anyway then that's probably unlikely. Oh, well.