Genre Guesstimation – National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) – Encore Review

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s genre has been chosen by me and we will be reviewing our favorite Family Vacation Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Aug by sending them to FamilyVacation@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Family Vacation Movies.

“Now, look, if you need any help. . .give me a holler. I’ll be upstairs, asleep.” – Clark Sr.

Number of Times Seen – Between 3-5 times (cable, video, 20 Jul 2014 and 19 Aug 2022)

Link to original review – Here

Brief Synopsis – The Griswolds invite their extended family to their home for a family Christmas.

My Take on it – Another fun addition to the series that despite not being a vacation where they go away, it works quite well.

Seeing how this family deals with the intricacies of creating a family holiday is quite fun and enjoyable to watch since Clark Griswold is the epitome of a typical patriarchal klutz.

The story plays out really well and they find some very profound moments along with the comedic ones.

Love the fact that Juliette Lewis and Johnny Galecki play the kids and how the four grandparents are also played by well known actors and actresses and this adds so much to the way things play out.

Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – It was rumored that Clark’s rant about his boss Mr. Shirley was ad libbed. This is somewhat true. However what the audience doesn’t see is that each cast member of the film facing Chevy had a sign hanging around their necks that had one word written in them. These were some of the adjectives Clark used to describe his boss. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Not quite. Great family dynamics throughout especially when spending vacation at home.

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10) (no change from original review)