Yule crack up!

As Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) waits for the all-important Christmas bonus, he starts planning for the best Christmas ever with his family. Of course, disaster looms in this third chapter of the series, which is one of Chase’s funniest movies and a modern Yuletide classic. The ingredient that always works to perfection here is the star himself and the many hilarious lines he delivers; he gets plenty of help from the others in the cast. The film is also surprisingly well structured; there’s always one more good joke waiting. The sappiness stays on a reasonable level, but the slapstick sequences are uneven, some of them pointless.

The YouTube clip shows the trailer.

1989-U.S. 97 min. Color. Produced by John Hughes, Tom Jacobson. Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. Screenplay: John Hughes. Cast: Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold), Beverly D’Angelo (Ellen Griswold), Randy Quaid (Eddie), Diane Ladd, John Randolph, E.G. Marshall… Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mae Questel, Juliette Lewis.

Trivia: Followed by Vegas Vacation (1997), as well as a separate TV movie, Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure (2003).

Quote: “This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here! We’re gonna press on, and we’re gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye! And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he’s gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse!” (Chase to his family)

Published 2006-12-25 06:28