National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The fundamental problem with Christmas movies is that it only feels right to watch them at that specific time of year. That’s a shame when movies like “Christmas Vacation” make a permanent place in your psyche, because you think about them year round.
“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was the third movie in the “Vacation” franchise, wherein family patriarch Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) tries to give his family a perfect family vacation, and the results are anything but up until the last few minutes. For “Christmas Vacation,” however, writer John Hughes twists the formula by having the family stay home, with Clark inviting family to his house for a perfect “Griswold Family Christmas.” After the critically panned first sequel, “European Vacation,” a little change-up was in order, and a chaotic Christmas vacation at home was just what the doctor ordered.
Clark Griswold is a perfect outlet for Chevy Chase’s particular brand of comedy, evident from that first year on “Saturday Night Live” and in his movie career that’s been “hit and miss,” to say the least. With Clark, though, something just fit perfectly with Chase’s personality, with him being able to be a loving, caring family man, all the while building a slow-burn rage just underneath that makes his outbursts both frightening, and blisteringly hilarious. Not many people could get away with a line like, “We’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny fucking Kaye,” all with a smile on his face, but Chase could. Chase understands Clark inside out, and he delivers a great, central performance as Clark’s perfect family Christmas seems to teeter on the brink of anarchy and disappointment.
Chase isn’t the only strong, comedic personality on display, though. As Clark’s suffering, but supportive, wife Ellen, Beverly D’Angelo has a very distinctive voice of her own that matches well with Chase’s, as do Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki as the Grisworld children, Audrey and Russ. That variety extends to the supporting cast, from E.G. Marshall, Doris Roberts, John Randolph, and Diane Ladd as Clark and Ellen’s parents and Randy Quaid as Ellen’s hillbilly cousin, Eddie to Brian Doyle-Murray as Clark’s stoic boss and Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Nicholas Guest as Clark’s snooty neighbors. And don’t forget unforgettable performances by William Hickey as crotchety Uncle Lewis and Mae Questel as senile Aunt Bethany, who come in during the third act to really add to the insanity that brings Clark to the breaking point. It’s hard to imagine anybody keeping a straight face when all of these actors are playing off of one another, but somehow, these actors all did it, and they make this “Christmas Vacation” one well worth staying home for.
