First of all, I’d like to point out something that I’ve strangely never heard about this movie: The title is a misnomer. Sure, it takes place during Christmas, but the entire film is set in the Griswold home. They don’t ever go on vacation. In fact, we see Clark Griswold at the office in quite a few scenes. Rather strange, in my opinion.
Sorry to bring up that little nitpick, but the rest of the review basically boils down to this: It’s funny. That’s really all you need to know and I’m sure you know it already whether you’ve seen the film or not. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a funny, funny movie. There is seriously not a scene in this film that doesn’t have something to laugh at.
The primary M.O. of Christmas Vacation is to take everything that we associate with Christmas and exaggerate it to an absurd degree. The old standbys of house decorations, Christmas trees and holiday feasts are all parodied, in addition to slightly more obscure traditions such as sledding and Christmas bonuses at work. Of course, all the various family dynamics of the Griswold clan are also played for laughs, complete with bickering in-laws, white trash brethren and older relatives who are hopelessly senile.
Our main characters have but one simple goal: To have the perfect Christmas. Unfortunately, their sky-high standards collide with their own various quirks and laughable strings of bad luck, putting everyone in a mile’s radius at severe risk of bodily harm and property damage. No one is safe in this movie. Still, what keeps our characters relatable and sympathetic — and the movie funnier as a whole — is that they clearly know that things are falling apart. The Griswolds know things are crap, but they’re determined to stay together as a family, support each other and make the best of things. I think Clark himself puts it best, when he refuses to stop the holiday before things get worse: “WORSE?! How could things get any worse?! Take a look around here, Ellen! We’re at the threshold of hell!”
It also helps that the family dynamics here are perfect. The movie nails that feeling between relatives in which they love each other, but only in small doses. Having fourteen people crammed into a four-person home is no picnic and the film is smart enough to show that in a way that makes it funny. These characters are all varying degrees of proud and stupid, but they clearly love each other and that makes them likable. Of course, it also helps that every single one of them is put in some kind of embarrassing position at some point, which helps take the edge off however annoying a few of them might be.
Everyone involved with this movie was clearly firing on all cylinders. John Hughes provides a hilarious and whip-smart screenplay. Jeremiah Chechik wonderfully coordinates the mayhem, with camera work and editing that never fail to make all the destruction hilarious. But of course, the cast is what really pulls all of this together. Not only is Chevy Chase called on to do physical humor, but he also has to go through the entire film with emotions that fluctuate anywhere from childlike yuletide cheer to borderline insanity. It’s a performance that has been imitated many times since, but never duplicated. He’s amazing.
Beverly D’Angelo plays his wife with a nice mix of common sense and exasperation. Pretty much everything that we need to know about her character is summed up when she calmly says “I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.” A young Juliette Lewis plays the daughter, Audrey. You’d expect her to be a typical rebellious teen with attitude and you’d partially be right. Still, her griping is only limited to a couple of scenes and it’s clear that Audrey loves her parents very much. Besides, can you blame her for the odd complaint? Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss play a snooty, yuppie couple who are made absolutely miserable by the antics next door. Brian Doyle-Murray plays the resident Scrooge. Randy Quaid plays Clark’s redneck brother. I could go on and on about how perfect this cast is, but I’m sure you get the point.
The bottom line is that Christmas Vacation is a holiday classic. It’s full of heart, celebrating the things to love about Christmas while making fun of the things to hate about it. The film is also a comedy classic, guaranteed to make anyone laugh. Whether or not you’ve already seen it, I highly recommend giving the film a watch this Christmas.