Schöne Bescherung

My Christmas is filled with ritual, as I guess most people's are. Part of that ritual is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, about which I have nothing but good things to say. This should be part of your Holiday season too, because despite it not seeming like it all the way through, the film as a whole is just so thoroughly festive, cheery and good-hearted.

It opens with a great set-piece, Clark taking his family out in the "front-wheel drive sleigh" to dig their Christmas tree out of the snow-covered ground. He's a desperate loser, but you have to love the guy, working his butt off to give his extended family the perfect Christmas. (That's the difference in this Vacation movie, by the way - the Griswolds don't go anywhere, their folks come to them).

So the shenanigans finding a tree set the pattern for a season of chaos, fighting in-laws, squirrels, stupid relatives, huge dogs, snooty neighbours and collapsing turkeys. And as if that wasn't stress enough for poor Clark, he's waiting for his Christmas bonus to come through to cover a cheque he's already written.

The script brims with festive jollity, enthusing the audience with Clark's excitement for the holidays. Stand out moments include the welcome (and hilarious) return of Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie, the uber-hick sponger with a trailer-full of weirdo kids and rubber sheets, and Mae Questel's appearance as Aunt Bethany. She used to voice Betty Boo, and plays the crazy old woman to perfection.

See this movie. Get it on video. I normally watch it the first time on a miserable October Sunday, when I start to think properly about Christmas. Nothing can replace this movie as the one thing guaranteed to get me looking forward to late December. Fabulous stuff, and as festive for me as tinsel and carols. Cuddle up with this one.

A comedy with laughs is good.

A comedy with feel-good laughs is better.

A comedy like "Christmas Vacation" is great.

When the Griswolds go on vacation, disaster is a certainty. But staying home to celebrate Christmas with some far-flung relatives (who obviously weren't flung far enough) leaves room for not only some top-drawer fun but also time to reflect on family, love, goodwill, belief in one's self....

Who expected so much from Chevy Chase?

After watching "Christmas Vacation", you will.

Nine stars. And when you light up your house this Christmas, make sure there's a nuclear reactor nearby.

It mayn't be one of my favourite Christmas movies, but it is one of the funnier ones for me. I agree some of it is silly, and when I say silly I mean silly, and the story is really quite predictable. But it at least looks good with some nice cinematography and scenery, and the music is fine too. The script has many funny moments and the sight gags while silly are respectable. The direction is competent and the performances from Chevy Chase and Beverley D'Angelo are likable while Randy Quaid gives some great relief as a decidedly obnoxious relative. So in conclusion, no masterpiece but it is entertaining, that's what matters to me. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This is probably the best Vacation film to come from the National Lampoon series. There are so many laughs to go around (thanks to writer John Hughes) that it boggles the mind (and it might be the final time Checy Chase brings belly laughs). Here, the Griswalds don't go on a vacation, but instead the family stays in Chicago where there relatives come to town and hell will come too. Randy Quaid makes this film a treat by having just laugh out loud moments on the screen. Great fun for the whole family (I think). A+

This is the one Christmas movie that I don't anyone can ever get tired of. Chevy Chase returns in the third installment of the Vacation series as Clarke W. Griswold as he tries desperately to maintain his sanity during the holidays with all of his relatives coming to stay under his roof and enduring all the mishaps along the way.

This is the funniest film in the series plain and simple. Chevy Chase has never been better. Christmas Vacation is filled with countless jokes and gags that it's impossible not to laugh.

10/10