National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation; comedy, USA, 1989; D: Jeremiah S. Chechik, S: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Johnny Galecki, Diane Ladd, Randy Quaid, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brian Doyle-Murray, Mae Questel

Clark Griswold and his family, wife Ellen and teenage kids Audrey and Russ, are preparing for Christmas. They steal a tree from the forest but then their relatives come to visit, of which the biggest annoyance is Eddie who lost his job and sends his kids from his trailer to the Griswold home. The turkey ends up becoming a weak feast, while a squirrel enters their home and causes a commotion. But the biggest problem is that Clark's boss didn't send him the Christmas bonus, which causes Eddie to lose control and kidnap the boss. The police raids the house, but the boss forgives the Griswolds and promises a Christmas bonus. Everyone starts celebrating.

National Lampoon's original "Vacation" film series seems to follow an unwritten rule: films with odd numbers are good, while those with even numbers are weak. After a slump with a weak 2nd film, the series returned to a better shape with this part III, set this time during Christmas, and augmented by John Hughes' sense for comedy writing. "Christmas Vacation" has probably the fairest, most politically correct tone, tamer in this case since the story plays out during family holidays, and a proper structure: what is funnier than watching people coping with problems? Comedian Chevy Chase has some of his finest physical comedy moments in the very funny first third of the movie, ranging from paper pages getting glued to his fingers while he was reading due to the Christmas tree resin, up to his "stunt" on the ladder when he uses a stapler gun to accidentally get his sleeve stuck on the roof, tearing it apart. Unfortunately, once Randy Quaid's character of Eddie, a primitive brute, enters the scene, the film enters a decline and never quite recovers. Interestingly, the actors of the Griswold kids were once again replaced, among them even with Juliette Lewis who made the best daughter Audrey ever, and a little jewel is Brian Doyle-Murray as Clark's boss, a greedy businessman (in the scene where Clark enters the office to talk, the boss gives him a fake excuse that he has an important telephone call by picking up the telephone and saying: "Get me someone, anyobody!"). Despite chaos, "Christmas Vacation" is a nice little comedy film with Christmas spirit, but can't really compete with those all-time great Christmas films from the past.

Grade:++