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Following on from the popular National Lampoon's Vacation film series, this third instalment, written by John Hughes and directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, takes its inspiration from a short story.
Storyline
While previous National Lampoon Vacation films have focused on the adventures of the Griswold family on holiday, this year, they decide to stay put and spend Christmas at home in Chicago.
Head of the family, Clark (played by Chevy Chase), and his wife Ellen (played by Beverly D'Angelo), with their two children Audrey and Rusty, decide to invite their elderly parents over for Christmas, along with Clark's Uncle Louis and Aunt Bethany. Clark is hell-bent on ensuring the whole family enjoy the perfect traditional Christmas, but things don't quite go to plan. Comical mishaps and unexpected twists ensure that Christmas soon descends into complete chaos for the Griswold clan, blowing Clark's ideals of a perfect celebration into oblivion!
The film was a box office smash, topping the charts just three weeks after its release. What makes National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation so watchable, year after year, is its basic theme that, even when we try to create the perfect Christmas, something is bound to crop up to scupper these plans, whether that be the fairy lights failing to work or unexpected guests turning up. This makes the film so relatable to anyone watching.
Best scenes
The comedy moments start straight away in this flick, in particular, when the family attempts to get the huge Christmas tree into their home. Mayhem soon erupts and it isn't long before the tree takes a tumble.
Keen to ensure the house looks as festive as possible, Clark installs 25,000 fairy lights outside the property. A rewiring mistake causes chaos when the lights are turned on, resulting in a power shortage locally and creating mayhem with the Griswold's snooty neighbours, Todd and Margo.
Further mishaps ensue when the cat accidentally chews the Christmas lights and blows them up, while the festive meal doesn't go to plan when the turkey bursts.
Another one of the standout scenes in this comedy classic is when cousin Eddie (played by Randy Quaid) turns up uninvited for Christmas, with his wife, two kids and Rottweiler dog, Snot. After losing their home, the broke family are forced to live in their motor home which they park up outside the Griswold's property.
It soon comes to light that Eddie, who is something of a slob, has been dumping his sewage waste in a storm drain, where a carelessly lit match from Uncle Lewis then causes an explosion.
Despite all the crazy bumps in the road to a harmonious Christmas, Clark is holding onto the fact that he's about to get his Christmas bonus from work. A classic scene in the film is when Clark discovers his bonus this year turns out to be free membership for Jelly of the Month Club. Eddie and Clark storm over to Clark's boss Frank’s house and kidnap him, resulting in a police SWAT team holding up the Griswold residents at gunpoint.
What else could possibly go wrong, I hear you cry?
A more organised Christmas
While unexpected guests and scrooge-like bosses might be something you cannot avoid, you can take greater control of your Christmas celebrations with the help of Solent Plastics. We have a wide and varied range of plastic storage solutions that would perfectly cater to all your Christmas decoration and festive food requirements.