25 Days of Christmas: Day Twelve

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

"Hey! If any of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I'd like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey *beep* he is! Hallelujah! Holy *beep*! Where's the Tylenol?" - Clark W. Griswold


This ties one other movie for my favorite Christmas movie of all time. This is the best of all the National Lampoon movies out there and it's all thanks to the masterful comedy timing of Chevy Chase. His portrayal of Clark W. Griswold is one of the best ever in the history of comedy.

All the man wants to do is have a fun traditional family Christmas. The kind he remembers as a kid. The kind you see in holiday specials on television. Family, decorations, carols, presents, snow, a swimming pool...

But no. There isn't one thing he tries to do that goes right no matter how small that thing may be. Putting up Christmas lights resulted in hours of labor and almost falling off the roof and dying. All of that and the stupid things didn't even twinkle. Plus the bright light brought Cousin Eddie right to his doorstep.

A simple sledding outing turned into a death race. Cutting down a Christmas tree... well... you know. All of this to show that he was trying really hard. And in the end when his boss screws him over for the bonus he deserved... he snapped. We've seen him snap before. It's never good.

But leave it to Cousin Eddie to save the day. I know... I can't believe it either.

I know it's the comedy that makes this movie great but it's also the fact that we can all relate at least a little. We know the stresses of the holiday and we know that no matter how hard we try it's never going to be perfect. Some one in the family is going to give you a headache and the scene of the perfect holiday dinner that you played out in your head is not going to match up to the scene you find yourself in come that snowy night. If you have snow, that is. At the moment I have way more than enough. I can send you some.

My favorite scenes are too many to count but the dinner scene, sledding scene, tree cutting scene, Cousin Eddie scenes... see what I mean! I love them all. But I guess if I had to narrow it down to one tiny scene... it would be Clark plugging in the lights. His excitement as he leads his family in this most important of events and his disappointment and rage as the whole thing mocks him when no one else is looking. When he beats the ever loving snot out of the reindeer and then drops kicks Santa right out of the sleigh I lose it every time. I've been there. I've been that guy. I killed a toaster once. It wasn't pretty.

It's also one of the most quotable movies out there. Nearly every word that Clark says is funny and memorable and the rest of the family follows suit. Cousin Eddie explaining why he shouldn't put the spray on his sled is repeated at every sledding trip I have ever gone on since the age of ten.

It's a fun movie with heart, laughs, and a lot of crazy. I can't not watch this a couple times or three during the Christmas season. It's as necessary as Santa to me.