Underplayed Gems

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation poster
Directed by
Jeremiah S. Chechik
Genre
comedy film, buddy film, Christmas film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 33m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
7.2 of 10 from 2,724 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A well-meaning dad tries to create a perfect old-fashioned family Christmas. His plans go comically wrong, with disasters piling up on each other.

freneticslapstickchaoticfeel-goodwarmzanyhecticwhimsical

What happens

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a 1989 American Christmas slapstick comedy film and the third installment in National Lampoon magazine's Vacation film series. It was directed by Jeremiah Chechik and written and produced by John Hughes. The film's ensemble cast is led by Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, and Randy Quaid, while also featuring Mae Questel in her final film role before her death in 1998. Inspired by Hughes's short story, "Christmas '59", published in National Lampoon, the film tells the story of Clark Griswold's efforts to have a good old-fashioned family Christmas, even as those efforts take a chaotic turn for the worse. It is the final film in the series to involve Hughes and National Lampoon. Filming took place in Summit County, Colorado, Silverthorne, Breckenridge, and Frisco as well as Burbank, California between March and June 1989. The film was produced by Hughes Entertainment and released by Warner Bros. on December 1, 1989. It performed well at the box office, grossing $73.3 million against a $25 million budget. It initially received generally mixed reviews from critics, but the film's critical reception improved over time, and it is now viewed as a Christmas classic. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.