Matt O’Connor
We’ve officially reached the halfway point of the Beacon’s Christmas countdown! So far, we’ve taken a lot and a lot of different Christmas films, but this next one is widely considered to be one of the best for the holiday season. Funnily enough, I used to dislike this film quite a bit. But as of recently, I’ve come around to it and I now consider it to be a fun watch through and through. For those who haven’t seen it, yule definitely crack up at National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik and written/produced by John Hughes (the same guy who wrote and produced Home Alone), the film follows Clark Griswold and his family setting out for their Christmas vacation. But as things go along, everything starts to go completely off the rails. Originally, the family planned to cut down a tree for the holidays. But once they realized that they forgot the tools to do so, they decided to uproot the tree instead. Clark also tries to decorate the house with Christmas lights, but the amount of energy that the lights needed to power on ended up causing a citywide power outage.
The film really shines the brightest when it comes to its comedy, as there’s dozens upon dozens of laugh out loud moments that really encapsulate the frantic chaos of the Christmas season. In that same vein, the members of the Griswold family getting together and driving each other crazy also emphasizes the layer of relatability that this film does so well.
It’s hard to believe that we’re already halfway through our countdown. But don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of other films to check out during the holiday season, and you won’t want to miss any of them!
