Fresh
Solid family fare with plenty of yocks.
Variety Staff, Variety
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Yule crack up!
1989 · 1h 37m · PG-13
Comedy
Directed by
Jeremiah S. Chechik
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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Overview
It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.
Director and cast
- Jeremiah S. Chechik Director
- Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
- Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
- Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold
- Johnny Galecki as Rusty Griswold
- John Randolph as Clark Griswold Sr.
- Diane Ladd as Nora
- E.G. Marshall as Art
- Doris Roberts as Francis
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Margo Chester
- Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
72%
Tomatometer
Rotten
The new film does little more than reintroduce these familiar characters (with new actors playing the children, who would otherwise be college age by now) and let them get on one another's nerves in earnest.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Rotten
One of the great unanswered questions in Hollywood is how Chevy Chase still gets work.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Rotten
Sequence after sequence seems to contain all the necessary material, to be well on the way toward a payoff, and then it somehow doesn't work.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Fresh
Christmas Vacation may not be a fancy package, but it is a diverting stocking stuffer.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
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