Yule Crack Up- 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'

Every Christmas Eve, my family sits down after doing our new Christmas pyjamas tradition and we watch the 1989 slapstick comedy National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We’ve done this for six, maybe seven years now. So when Christmas Eve 2022 rolled around, down we sat to our family favourite. But this year was slightly different, as I now pretend I have extremely insightful and interesting things to say about films on this silly wee blog. Unlike my other blog entries, this isn’t a first-watch review, but just like my introductory entry, I had to write about my favourite Christmas film.

Based on humorous stories written by The Breakfast Club’s director and ‘80s legend John Hughes, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is part of a franchise following the Griswold family, starring SNL’s Chevy Chase. The films often show the Griswolds trying to pull off the perfect family experience, whether it’s a road trip to a theme park in the first 1983 instalment, or Christmas with the extended family. Since first seeing this film, it instantly became my favourite Christmas movie—a response that, when asked, many people have never heard of.

As the Griswolds host both in-laws and the cousins’ family, who turn up unannounced in their RV, Clark Griswold is adamant their Christmas will be perfect, getting ever more carried away as things inevitably go wrong. Whether it’s the “Two hundred fifty strands of lights, 100 individual bulbs per strand, for a grand total of 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights” that fail to turn on, or the live squirrel they find living in their 8-foot-tall Christmas tree, this film is the definition of slapstick comedy. I wouldn’t usually say I’m a fan of slapstick—disliking films starring 90s Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey—but National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is the perfect combination of well-scripted one-liners and Christmas nostalgia that fills me with so much joy.

Sure, it’s crude, but it’s certain to give you plenty of giggles, unsurprisingly becoming a major holiday classic, especially in the US, where the film is better known. With a short and sweet run time of 1 hour 37 minutes, it’s understandably become a bit of a cult favourite, with merchandise made especially like props from the film. My dad owns the one and only eggnog moose-head glass, just like the one Clark uses when he questions his cousin Eddie, who has just arrived unannounced. The film is packed with scenes and lines that my family and I could quote almost in entirety because they’re so unforgettable and hilarious. I highly, highly recommend everyone see this film. It will always be a favourite for me—partially due to the nostalgia—and one I will continue to watch every Christmas Eve with my loved ones. So to end this blog entry, I want to quote my favourite line.

Clark is prepping the enormous Christmas tree on his drive when his snobby young neighbours rock up, judging him, saying…

“Hey Griswold, where do you think you're gonna put a tree that big?”

To which Clark responds:

“Bend over and I'll show you.”

Evie 29 December 2022