A raunchy family comedy filled with mistakes is the greatest holiday movie of all time
Author: Robert Skuch Published
With the holidays quickly approaching, it’s time for me to carry on the Thanksgiving tradition of eating turkey and serving leftovers to guests. Yep, once the company leaves, the lights dim, and the cranberry sauce has congealed enough to be scraped cleanly off the plate and straight into the trash, it’s time to dig out the DVD case and light up 1989’s Christmas holidaysa movie I watched every Thanksgiving night for so long that I lost count.
Everyone’s family is dysfunctional to some degree, including my own, and I think that’s why movies like this Christmas holidays So universally loved. They feed into our insecurities about the perfect family vacation by showing us that things might actually be worse than we thought.
Next time you’re wondering if the in-laws are going to corner you this holiday season, find out what’s best for you Christmas holidays. Watching the Griswolds crumble under the pressure of finding the perfect Christmas tree, decorating the house, preparing dinner, and surviving New Year’s Eve makes you feel a lot better about your situation.
The Best Entrance to Country Mile Resort Series
Christmas holidaysLike previous National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, it centers on the Griswold family who can never catch a break. Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) is as nervous as ever as he plans the perfect vacation and is determined to go all out this year. The first incident involves him dragging his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo), son Rusty (Johnny Galecki) and daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis) to a remote location in search of the perfect Christmas tree. The plan immediately backfires and continues to backfire throughout the run of the movie, as the tree is absolutely massive and causes a ton of collateral damage every time a threatening inanimate object gets the chance to appear.
Clark, who plans to spend his upcoming Christmas winnings on an in-ground swimming pool, thinks he has it all figured out and is scrambling to finish decorating the lobby before company starts arriving. His plans are continually thwarted by the arrival of his parents, Clark (John Randolph) and Nora (Diane Ladd), and Ellen’s parents, Art (EG Marshall) and Frances (Doris Roberts). If dealing with their parents wasn’t troublesome enough, the Griswolds also have to thank for the presence of Ellen’s cousin Catherine (Miriam Flynn) and her husband Eddie (Randy Quaid), who don’t quite fit in with social norms or etiquette. Adding insult to injury are Clark’s uncle and aunt Bethany (Mae Quest) and Lewis (William Hickey), whose aging only adds to the upcoming holiday chaos.
Disasters take center stage
Each character is introduced to Christmas holiday The story’s premise escalates effortlessly, as Clark attempts to string the house together with thousands of lights, takes the kids on a disastrous sleigh ride, mitigates household effects in cramped quarters, and deals with blackouts, fires, burnt turkeys, Eddie’s nuclear RV septic tank, and a dozen other mishaps that would break even the most stoic of men. However, Clark was not a stoic man. He’s high-strung, manic, and stressed out by the outside forces of his extended family, all the while trying his best to keep the family together and wondering when he’ll receive the Christmas bonus he’s already spent on his surprise swimming pool in advance.
Throw some extra-potent eggnog and a chainsaw into the equation, and Christmas holidays If you don’t want your family to see you going completely crazy when your buttons are pushed too hard, here’s how not to handle the holidays into a complete disaster. Every healthy setup can lead to irreversible accidents, causing severe structural damage and even life-threatening consequences. It’s up to the Griswolds to save this holiday from themselves, even if it’s already behind them.
Come for the joy, stay for the collapse
Christmas holidays This is one of those explosive holiday movies that never seems to get old, as each escalation feels like the final holiday boss is being jacked off before anyone can recover from what just happened to them. Like the Home Alone movies, it causes incredible collateral damage that no real family can reasonably survive. Just when you think things can’t get worse, they really do, and if you’re on the fence about being a guest or hosting your own guests, this is the perfect way to prepare for the holidays.
Try to immerse yourself in its comic charm, Christmas holidays Its delivery is relentless, energetically violent, and surprisingly wholesome if you think about what’s really at stake here. Clark Griswold may be growing increasingly unhinged during his holiday adventures, but it’s because he cares so much about his family that he’s blinded by his own ambition. The next time you’re grilled by your in-laws about poorly placed decorations, remember that it’s a small detail that’s easily corrected, unlike a crazy squirrel hiding in your Christmas tree who chooses the perfect moment to go on a crazy rampage.
Christmas holidays Now playing on Max.
