I'm trying something
different to get in the holiday spirit this year. Every day, from
now through Christmas, I will be watching a different Christmas movie
or television special. I have compiled the list of features ahead of
time and am drawing one, at random, from my Christmas stocking
everyday to determine what gets watched. Thank you for joining me in
this endeavor. Here we go with day twenty-seven! What will it be?
National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
Released
in 1989 this film quickly became a holiday classic. I know that my
family used to watch it nearly every Christmas. At some point we
burned out on it and took a number of years off. We started watching
it again a few years ago and, I have to say, I think I like it more
now as an adult than I did as a child or teen. Let's see if that
trend continues.
Synopsis
National
Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is fairly light on plot. A large
portion of the film is simply vignettes that use heightened versions
of the family tensions that we have all experienced around the
holidays to deliver a good dose of hilarity. In terms of connecting
story threads there are really only two. First, Clark Griswold is
doing everything in his power to make sure that his family has the
perfect old-fashioned family Christmas. The bickering of his in-laws
and the unexpected appearance of his wife Ellen's cousin Eddie make
this difficult and wear on his nerves but Clark keeps it together.
As stated, the tension between Clark simply trying to make Christmas
the best it can be and the actions of everyone else seemingly working
against that goal drives the majority of the film.
 |
| This film gave me unreasonable expectations for Christmas lighting displays. |
The
other plot thread that runs through the whole movie involves Clark's
planned gift for the whole family. He is planning on putting in a
swimming pool. However, to ensure that construction can begin as
soon as the ground is not frozen he has had to put money down and he
is counting on his annual Christmas bonus to cover the check he
wrote. Christmas gets closer and closer and no bonus has arrived.
Finally, a messenger shows up at the house and delivers what is
thought to be the bonus. Instead it turns out that Clark's company
has changed policy and in lieu of a bonus he has been enrolled in a
jelly of the month club. Clark finally snaps at this reveal and
suggests that all he wants for Christmas is his boss dragged to their
house so he can give him a piece of his mind. Eddie takes this
seriously and kidnaps Clark's boss. The SWAT team arrives at the
Griswold house but Clark's boss has seen the errors of his ways
reversed his decision on bonuses and no charges are pressed.
Christmas has worked out just fine, even if it didn't go quite as
planned.
 |
| This isn't typically how a holiday gathering culminates. |
Final
Thoughts
So,
it is the case that this film continues to ring truer to me now than
it used to. Maybe it is the fact that I get all of the jokes now
that used to go over my head. Perhaps it is that I can relate to
more of the adult worries that come with the holidays in a way that I
used to be able to. Either way this film is fun for me again.
Tastes can change and I am glad that I have swung back around on this
one. I don't have much else to say on it other than that it is weird
to see Chevy Chase actually being funny. He does that so rarely
these days. Join me tomorrow for day 28. If you've stuck around
this long it would be a shame to quit now.
 |
| Being unfunny isn't surprising for somebody once labeled by Bill Murray as a "medium talent". |
No comments:
Post a Comment