Christmas Vacation (1989)
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A man's quest for a perfect family Christmas spirals into a series of escalating mishaps and chaotic surprises.
The story
Chicago-area resident Clark Griswold intends to have a "Good old fashioned" Christmas with his entire family. He drives his wife Ellen and children Audrey and Rusty out to the country to find a tree, ultimately choosing the largest one they can find. Realizing too lure that they did not bring any tools to cut down the tree, they are forced to uproot it instead. Clark's holiday plans inadvertently cause steadily escalating chaos for the family's yuppie neighbors, Todd and Margo Chester. The family's extended relatives also arrive, and Clark's determination to maintain a perfect holiday despite the mounting complications leads to a series of increasingly absurd complications.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Clark Griswold's attempt to host a perfect Christmas leads to a series of escalating disasters. After uprooting a tree without tools and causing a citywide power shortage with 25,000 lights, the family is joined by their parents and their relatives, including the eccentric Aunt Bethany and Uncle Lewis. The situation worsens when their cousin Eddie and his wife Catherine arrive in an RV. Clark becomes desperate when he fails to receive a promised bonus from his boss, Frank Shirley, and instead receives a membership to the Jelly of the Month Club. After a disastrous dinner where a tree is burned and a cat is electrocuted, Clark's frustration peaks. He eventually settles for a tree in the neighbors' yard, which contains a disruptive squirrel. In a final act of desperation, he demands his boss be delivered to the house as a gift. Eddie complies, leading to a confrontation with the police. Ultimately, a gas explosion caused by Uncle Lewis's cigar and the RV's waste creates a spectacular finale where the family finds peace in the moment, and Clark realizes the true meaning of the holiday.
- First release year
- 1989
- Runtime (minutes)
- 97
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Jeremiah Chechik
- Writers
- John Hughes · writer
- Cast and characters
- Chevy Chase · Clark Griswold Jr.; Beverly D'Angelo · Ellen Griswold; Randy Quaid · Eddie Johnson; Juliette Lewis · Audrey Griswold; Johnny Galecki · Russell "Rusty" Griswold; John Randolph · Clark Griswold Sr.; Diane Ladd · Nora Griswold; E. G. Marshall · Arthur "Art" Smith
- Genres
- comedy; slapstick
- Themes
- family; holiday spirit
- Tone and mood
- slapstick; whimsical
- Premise and plot tags
- holiday; comedy; family
- Source material / true-story basis
- Christmas '59
- Franchise connections
- National Lampoon's Vacation
- Content notes
- slapstick
- Reception
- Initially received mixed reviews, but it has since become a Christmas classic.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 49 · scale: 100 · review count: 18; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Production trivia
- The film is the only installment in the series without the song 'Holiday Road'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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