An aspiringly comedic and decidedly Midwestern United States notion of Christmas came to life in suburban Chicago, Illinois a while back. This notion was brought to us with the Jeremiah S. Chechik directed movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Big plans for a glorious family holiday, as are the fare that this franchise plays in, gave way to comedic disaster with the movie written by John Hughes.
The movie opens with Clark ‘Sparky’ Griswold Jr., his wife Ellen, and his children Audrey, and Rusty awkwardly singing carols of the season as they drive to the country to walk through tightly packed snow to find and cutdown an evergreen tree to bring into their home for the holiday. It wasn’t until after venturing too far into the experience with misadventures to boot that the family realizes that tools were forgotten in pursuit of the endeavor. The family found success after much effort. Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki portrayed Clark, Ellen, Audrey and Rusty, respectively.
Each pair of Clark and Ellen’s parents arrive a short time later, arguing as they arrived at the front door of the Griswold house ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Clark takes on a mission to keep things on a positive keel by setting out to put an extraordinary amount of external lights and festive decorations outside the house with his son, Rusty. Clark Griswold Sr., Nora Griswold, Art Smith and Francis Smith, as the parents of Clark and Ellen, were portrayed by John Randolph, Diane Ladd, E.G. Marshall and Doris Roberts, respectively.
The effort to illuminate the house leads to a series of comedic wrong turns, some of which go horribly wrong for the Griswold’s. Todd and Margo Chester, as portrayed by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, had a suspicious dislike of the Griswold’s before the exterior illumination project provoked a series of calamity’s that were visited upon the Chesters. Meanwhile, an afternoon of familial shopping commences where Ellen’s mother trips Clark in the attic because of how well heated the family home is throughout the home, save the attic.
An additional storyline about Clark’s relationship with leadership at his work leads to questions for how big or small the annual bonus will be this year. Randy Quaid as Eddie Johnson arrives at about this time with his wife, Catherine and their kids. A sad storyline presents itself here, incorporating a scene of fantastic revelry by Clark with thoughts aimed at the lingerie clerk, Mary, as portrayed by Nicolette Scorsese. Miriam Flynn portrayed Catherine Johnson. Lewis and Bethany Griswold, and their cat, make an additional appearance to help bring the full humorous treatment for the film its fullest impact.
While many of the humorous points of the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation are suggested above, there’s much more than meets the eye beyond what has been raised. In raising some of the realities for how families can make the full range of emotions come to the surface during the holidays is where the drama and humor many see in this movie rests. As National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation as directed by Jeremiah S. Checkik and written by John Hughes 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Matt – Saturday, December 10, 2022
Matt Lynn Digital 