National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is an iconic Holiday Film.  This film is part of a series of films involving the Griswold family.  Those films include Vacation, European Vacation, and Vegas Vacation.  In my opinion, Christmas Vacation is the best film of the series.  This has been a movie I’ve loved watching during the holiday season since I was a kid.  This Holiday Classic will provide laughs for all ages although there may be some scenes that shouldn’t be viewed by little kids.

     The supporting cast includes the legendary actor Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold,  Beverly D’Angelo as Ellen Griswold, and Randy Quaid as Clark’s eccentric Cousin Eddie.  The movie was released in 1989 and directed by Jeremiah Chechik who was also the director for The Avengers.  In the movie, Clark Griswold is hoping to have a fun holiday season with his family.  However, things don’t go as planned and things quickly get Chaotic and when Clark doesn’t get his bonus, it derails all of his plans for the fun holiday season.

       The movie starts off with the Griswolds going to the countryside to pick out their holiday tree.  On the way, Clark gets into road rage with some truck drivers and almost kills himself and his family.  Once at the farm, Clark sees the perfect tree and decides that it's the Griswold family Christmas tree.  Once they get home, Clark discovers that the tree is way too big for the living room.  This doesn’t ruin Clark’s holiday spirit because he’s eagerly awaiting for his holiday bonus so he can put a swimming pool in the backyard.  As time passes, Clark still doesn’t receive  his holiday bonus and is nervous they forgot about it this year.  Meanwhile, Clark and Ellen’s parents arrive for the holidays.  Things are relatively peaceful (besides from the bickering between Clark and Ellen’s parents) until Clark’s estranged Cousin Eddie shows up with his family in his camper and says that he’ll be staying with Clark for a while.  On Christmas Eve, things were Chaotic; Clark burned the turkey, Clark’s aunt’s cat got electrocuted to death by chewing on Christmas lights, and Clark’s uncle burned his Christmas tree down by accident.  Clark was on the brink of losing his mind and lashing out until the mailman showed up with a package from his boss.  Clark and his family quickly become excited because they think it’s Clark’s bonus.  However, when Clark opens the letter, he sees he didn’t get his bonus and instead gets a submission into the Jelly Of The Month Club.  This causes Clark to get very angry and he starts cussing left and right about his boss.  Cousin Eddie sees how much the bonus means to Clark and leaves to find Clark’s boss and Christmas Eve quickly becomes a Christmas nightmare for the family.

       My favorite scene in the movie is when Clark sees that he didn’t get his holiday bonus and instead got a Jelly Of The Month Club.  This scene is hilarious because up until this point, Clark stayed calm amidst the disastrous night but this set him over the edge and got mad.  He started throwing things and insulting his boss.  This scene was very over the top and very funny.  Chevy Chase did an excellent job acting in this scene.  This scene is supposed to over exaggerate how businesses are cutting costs and getting rid of bonuses but still giving their employees something.  For Example, Last Christmas my dad didn’t receive a  holiday bonus but instead got cookies and a company sweatshirt for Christmas from his company.  This scene shows that a lot of people like and rely on their bonus but instead, businesses are cheaping out and giving them other things.

       I’d personally recommend watching this movie if you’re a teen or older.  Some scenes may be inappropriate for younger kids but some might still enjoy it.  This movie is hilarious and includes a lot of different types of humor.  This movie is a holiday classic and a must-watch movie for me every year during the holiday season.