the Mind’s Chew Toy

With the holiday season fast approaching, we spent last weekend decorating. We put up our tree, strung up our lights and listened to some Holiday tunes. Heather even painted a couple of ornaments to add to our ever-growing collection. Since this is our first Christmas as a married couple, we are definitely up in the spirit of the season.

Continuing that spirit, we borrowed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation from a friend of ours. Neither of us had seen the film in years, and, being as it was a holiday film, wanted to sit down to watch it to rekindle old memories. But, would this rather dated film still bring the fun, or have we outgrown the Griswold Christmas?

With the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, Chevy Chase was back in the limelight. He’s pretty much disappeared since then, and, unfortunately, Christmas Vacation shows a little bit of why. Chevy Chase’s inept family man, while simply hilarious in the first film, has grown a bit tired by the third film. He still manages to convey the feeling of the family guy, who is trying his best to provide for his faimly, but the odds against him are even more insurmountable than in the first 2 films.

Beverly D’Angelo is pushed off to the side in a rather minor role for this third film, as are the kids (this time around played by a young Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki). While this is good for the Griswold son, Rusty (since Johnny Galecki can’t match up to the comedy stylings of Anthony Michael Hall, who played Rusty in the first film), it’s less of a good thing with the smaller role of wife Beverly D’Angelo. Their pairing is part of what makes this series so enjoyable, and the less time they have together, the less their relationship shows through.

While every one of the other relatives are a stereotype, combining them all in one family has the viewers feeling bad for Clark and his family. As if their trailer-trash cousin Eddie (played by Randy Quaid) wasn’t enough, the cousin’s wife doesn’t know how to cook (so is put in charge of the turkey), one Aunt is losing her mind and adds kitty litter to her jello mold (and wraps her cat as a present), both grandfathers snore loud enough to wake the dead, Clark’s mother-in-law (played to perfection by Frances Smith) thinks that her daughter married beneath her.

Apparently, the filmmakers wanted the relatives to be nothing more than shallow stereotypes of horrendous in-laws…but also managed to make most of them seem almost purposeful in their destruction of Clark’s perfect holiday plans. It’s kind of odd, as the viewer gets a sneakiing suspicion the relatives are out to bring Clark down, and it kind of ruins the holiday mood of the season. Eventually, they all join with Clark’s point of view, but that’s only after a very bizarre and unrealistic incident involving a kidnapping and a SWAT team attack on the house.

Still, it’s not all bad. Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold excels at getting himself into bizarre situations and making the best of them. When he gets stuck in his own attic, for example, he wraps himself in his wife’s old clothes and watches home movies of his childhood…until his wife opens the trapdoor - which he just happens to be sitting on. Scenes like these are when Clark is at his best.

At that’s part of the problem with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. While the first two films both had a strong sense of family unity amongst the 4 main Griswolds. Despite their differences, they were a family. Here, they are just 4 individuals who happen to live in the same house. Gone is that sense of family togetherness - surprising since it should be at it’s strongest, since they are in their own home, and it’s the holiday season, normally a time for family.

If you’re looking for a good Christmas flick to kickstart your holiday, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation isn’t your best choice. Go for the comedy stylings of Scrooged or the “love is in the air” feeling of Love Actually. If you’re trying to recapture some of the childlike wonder of Christmas, try The Polar Express (2004).

If, however, you rate one of the Home Alone sequels among your favorite holiday films (or even admit to liking them at all), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation may be right up your alley.