22 minutes, 22 seconds: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

-
In this week's installment of 22 minutes, 22 seconds, we look at another festive favourite... from the golden decade of Christmas movies, the 1980s.

And for a little festive cheer who's better to turn to than 1980s comedy icons Chevy Chase and writer-producer John Hughes? (I can't believe I just wrote that!)

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation many, many times while growing up. Mixing together cynicism, wacky physical comedy, rabid squirrels, irritating in-laws and ultimately a realisation that family and traditional values ARE important, Christmas Vacation is the ancestor, for better or worse, of contemporary festive films like Four Christmases, which is currently raking in the dough at the American box office (despite a near unanimous critical panning).


Anyway, at 22 minutes and 22 seconds into National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Ellen Griswold (Beverly D'Angelo) and daughter Audrey (a very young Juliette Lewis) are in the kitchen and taking strain as both sets of grandparents and a growing number of other family members converge on their household. Audrey is moaning about sharing a bed with her brother, and Ellen, well, despite her smiles she isn't exactly taking things well either.


Ellen: Well, I don't know what else to say except that it's Christmas and we're all in misery.


Ellen lights up.


Frances Smith (Ellen's mother) from off-screen: Ellen, are you smoking again?!



Ellen: Noooooo!



There's no better way to take out your family frustrations during the festive season than on an unsuspecting cabbage.

If you want a little more Christmas Vacation action, make sure to check out the always amusing Movies in 30 Seconds with Bunnies and their take on the film.

Comments

MJenks said…
This is on my list of favorite films only because I watched it so much as a kid. Plus, lines like "Sh!tter was full" have worked their way into my list of comedic lines I've stolen from other places in order to get a cheap laugh from a crowd.

Plus, I've done the "look kids, a deer" and given someone the middle finger trick before.
11:48 PM
Pfangirl said…
I definitely need to squeeze in a viewing of this film before/on next week Thursday. I haven't watched the film in several years now.

Apart from screening Dinner for One, South Africa doesn't have any movies or Christmas specials that are shown every year on TV during the festive season.
9:52 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding
Read more