Confession time. Yes, I am old enough that I saw National Lampoon’s Vacation at a real life movie theatre. If memory serves correct, it was at the Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and I had orange soda shoot out of my nose when laughing at the hilarious adventures of the Griswolds and their Travel Queen Family Truckster. Vacation is one of those rare movies that still appeals as much to me today as it did when I was younger.
However, 1985′s European Vacation was such a huge disappointment that I never bothered watching Christmas Vacation when it showed up four years later. Although the official wife of this reviewer loves the movie, I had never really had any incentive to watch the movie until I was asked to review it.
Oddly enough, watching this movie reminded me of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. If you’re old enough, do you remember that looooong four years between Star Wars and its sequel? Remember how that wait was rewarded with a great movie that exceeded anything you could expect.
Well, Christmas Vacation was like that, except completely the opposite. It took the producers four years to come up with a completely abysmal sequel, one that you wish you could erase from your brain immediately after watching. Unfunny, puerile, boring, clichéd, and pathetic are the words that pop into mind after suffering through this.
Film 
Think of the worst episode of Saturday Night Live you’ve ever seen. Remember how there were three funny jokes mixed into 90 minutes of bad physical humor, flat punch lines, bad acting, and boring drudgery? Yep, that’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
So our hapless hero Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) mistakenly decides that he should have both his and his wife’s parents stay over for Christmas. Although Ellen (the ever-lovely Beverly D’Angelo) warns him about what will happen, and how he’s setting himself up for disappointment, he insists. Let the hijinks begin.
Wow, Clark fell off the roof hooking up thousands of lights. Never saw that coming. Wow, Clark went into the attic and was locked in. Never saw that coming either. Turkey overcooked? Big dog knocks down all the dishes and a sideboard? Crazy Aunt shows up? Tree catches fire? Yup, yup, yup, and yup.
As a movie-goer, when I see a comedy, I’d like to laugh, be entertained, and occasionally be surprised by little twists and turns the screenwriter and director put in. In Christmas Vacation, there is none of this – it is so formulatic, I can picture the screenwriter using a book like “Screenwriting for Dummies” when making the script. Although the cast is talented (including a young Juliette Lewis), the material is badder than bad. Even the “happy ending” is so over the top and forced that it feels artificial.
Truly, the blame for this movie lies at the feet of John Hughes. A talented and humorous writer who effectively tapped into the bitter irony that life sometimes is (The Breakfast Club, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Pretty in Pink), his writing skills began deteriorating in 1987. This is evident when one looks at the list of forgettably bad commercial comedies he wrote from 1988 on (including Christmas Vacation).
The only thing that keeps this movie from getting a 0 is Randy Quaid, who reprises his role as Cousin Eddie. Until he appears in his ramshackle motor home, the movie is completely lifeless. Only he adds the necessary humor and unpredictability the movie so desperately needs. Even though his character is a complete caricature, he is the only person that can elicit any sort of reaction from the viewer.
Video
Do you own this on DVD? If so, don’t bother with the Blu-ray.
The film is clearly period correct, and has an appropriate amount of grain and texture for a 1989 movie. However, some older movies are cleaned up and sharpened in a way that the viewer can enjoy enhanced definition without destroying the character of the film (like The Princess Bride).
In the case of Christmas Vacation, it appears to have been straight transferred to Blu-ray without any post-production clean up. Net result, you end up with a movie that has no discernible improvement over an upscaled DVD. I could almost imagine the upscaled DVD looks even better as it would be less likely to over highlight the grain of the original film stock like the Blu-ray does.
Audio 
The movie is in period-correct Dolby Digital 2.0, and is reasonably well-mixed; as the film is so dialog-heavy, 2-channel is not a distraction.
Not unexpectedly, there is some harshness to the DD dialog, as well as an expected lack of dynamics on explosions, crashes, and exploding cats.
Generally, the sound is adequate, though nothing special for a movie of its age. To me, it felt like Warner Brothers just mailed this one in, especially when we compare it to the greatly enhanced 5.1 HD audio mixes we’ve seen on movies from the same period.
Special Features
Although one expects a smaller special feature set in a 20 year-old movie, this Blu-ray’s features are poorer than poor.
It comes with a commentary (which is more humorous than the movie itself, mainly due to Randy Quaid), and the original theatrical trailer in 480p. That’s it.
Being a “20th Anniversary Edition”, you’d think there’d be some behind the scenes footage, or even a “looking back” interview with the cast and crew. Even a reunion would have been nice (even just Chevy and Beverly!). However, we get……a trailer. Boooo.
Not only is this (by far) the worst set of special features I’ve seen on a Blu-ray, this wouldn’t even be adequate for a DVD.
Final Thoughts
When I make the time investment in watching a movie, I do not have a lot of expectations. However, there are two “golden rules” no movie should not violate: don’t bore me, and don’t insult me. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation managed to do both.
The worst part is that even for fans of the movie (my official wife is one of them), there is little to give them incentive to track down this movie on Blu-ray. The print is not cleaned up for hi-def, the sound is not enhanced, and the special features are non-existent. Overall, I believe this is the worst offering I have yet to see from Warner Brothers on Blu-ray.
Rent or buy at your own risk.
