The Griswolds are back and dad Clark Griswold is intent on hosting the most perfect Christmas yet—but something always seems to go wrong! It starts when the family drives out to the mountains to cut down the perfect Christmas tree (but forget to bring a saw). Or when Clark sets up 25,000 Christmas lights across his house and can’t get them to work (because they’re wired to the light-switch). And then there’s the extended family—the Griswolds are hosting both sets of parents, a senile aunt and uncle, and crazy cousin Eddie—and there’s all sorts of uncomfortable family antics. *cue laugh track…?*
In terms of comedy and in terms of heart, this movie just *almost* gets there but never quite sticks the landing. Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of moments I enjoyed or laughed at, but as a whole package, it didn’t work for me. Maybe it’s because every character was such an over-the-top, decadent caricature that the truths of the premise never fully shined through. Or the insane slapstick, like a sled that defies physics or the pain of yuppie neighbors Todd and Margo, would have even The Three Stooges encouraging restraint. Or maybe I don’t have sympathy for someone who essentially lives in a mansion and is upset they can’t afford a pool. Maybe I’m overthinking it.
And yet, there was a welcomed sincerity to moments in the film that nearly balanced it out: The notion that we set unrealistic expectations for ourselves around the holidays, the inter-generational passage of stress and wisdom, and nostalgia and the yearning to feel about Christmas as we did in childhood—every time the film dipped in this direction, I wanted more. I suppose I’m at a point where ‘seeing an unnaturally-hot woman in a department store and being so distracted by her boobs that you fumble through 8 boob-related Freudian slips’ isn’t funny to me anymore. But the premise that a dad, over-stressed from the expectations he sets for himself, gets locked in a freezing attic and begins watching old family films with a towel on his head is real, heartfelt comedy.