National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

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

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)

Trailer

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