Going back to the 1930s, Hollywood has produced some very good humorous holiday films. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation has more laughs than any that I have seen. Year after year, this movie continues to regale me over the holidays. Come Thanksgiving each year, I start checking my DVD list and begin playing my favorite holiday flicks. I like to save Christmas Vacation until close to Christmas. After my children and their families have finished most of the hectic shopping for Christmas, this is a good film to sit down to for some laughs. This is an adult film – in much of the humor and some of the language and actions. We will show it to kids when they reach their teens, with explanations and reminders about foul language or disrespectful parts.
There is a genius in the writing of this film that combines occasional witty dialog with side talking built around slapstick and other situations. The situations and characters are sources of many laughs. It's all built around Clark Griswold, played to perfection by Chevy Chase. This is one of those rare original films that makes a hit and lasts so long that no one would think to try to do a remake. Indeed, who could equal or top the humor of this story as given us by this great cast? I can't imagine Clark Griswold as anyone other than Chevy Chase. Or Eddie played by anyone other than Randy Quaid. Or even the yuppie neighbors, Todd and Margo as played by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis- Dreyfus, respectively. All the cast contribute to the humor, but it all revolves around Clark Griswold.
This is a wonderful laugh-out-loud comedy that never seems to wear out. Of course it might if one were to play it incessantly during the year, instead of holding it for the holidays.
There is a genius in the writing of this film that combines occasional witty dialog with side talking built around slapstick and other situations. The situations and characters are sources of many laughs. It's all built around Clark Griswold, played to perfection by Chevy Chase. This is one of those rare original films that makes a hit and lasts so long that no one would think to try to do a remake. Indeed, who could equal or top the humor of this story as given us by this great cast? I can't imagine Clark Griswold as anyone other than Chevy Chase. Or Eddie played by anyone other than Randy Quaid. Or even the yuppie neighbors, Todd and Margo as played by Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis- Dreyfus, respectively. All the cast contribute to the humor, but it all revolves around Clark Griswold.
This is a wonderful laugh-out-loud comedy that never seems to wear out. Of course it might if one were to play it incessantly during the year, instead of holding it for the holidays.