I do find it pretty funny, however, that the parents of the movie continue to stay the same, but the children are always replaced - and never look alike at all.
Last night, I popped in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation to add to my 25 Days of Christmas movie marathon.The film, like all Vacation films, stars Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold.
Clark is looking forward to his "Good, old-fashioned, Griswold family Christmas". He takes his family out to the middle of nowhere to find 'the perfect' tree. He and his son Russ (Johnny Galecki) string the entire house with Christmas lights. And he invites his extended family members to their house for an extended Christmas (they showed up on like the 18th, that's crazy).
Anyway, I enjoy this film because most of the things that seem to go wrong - can pretty much happen to anyone during the holidays. Perhaps not all at the same time, but I can definitely see it happening.
Everyone has that black sheep-type family member, Clark's happens to be his cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), who shows up with his family unexpectedly.
Then there's the senile old lady, and her grouchy 'who the hell cares' husband. The old lady brings her cat (wrapped of course), who then proceeds to fry itself while chewing on Christmas lights. And the old, grouchy man torches the Christmas tree (and almost himself) while lighting a stogie in the living room.
Most of Clark's misfortunes, however, happen to come from himself. He tries so hard to give his family a great Christmas, which is nearly impossible. It doesn't help that he spent $7,500 to have a pool put in with the help of his bonus check - that just happens to be missing.
The film is pretty darn hilarious, one of Chase's best projects.
BONUS: Although I am not technically apart of LAMB yet (most likely joining after the New Year), I thought I would toss out my favorite holiday scene, which happens to be in this film.
The scene is Cousin Eddie kidnapping Clark's boss and bringing him to the house for Clark to confront. When the cops show off and yell freeze, it's downright hilarious. Especially Clark's wife Ellen's (Beverly D'Angelo) pose.
Grade:
I think I saw at least 3 people select that scene. I really need to watch all of Xmas Vacation again...I didn't even remember that Galecki and Lewis played the kids (though I did recall that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was in it). It's not my favorite Vacation flick, but it's a worthy addition and fits into many people's top Xmas flicks.
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