National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

"Oh, the silent majesty of a winter's morn... the clean, cool chill of the holiday air... an asshole in his bathrobe, emptying a chemical toilet into my sewer..."

It's sad to see what has become of the 'National Lampoon' name these days; it was sold off years ago and is now used pretty much as a 'cash in' only name on poor teen sex movies - a far cry from what was once a highly regarded moniker in American comedy. Having never read the magazine itself, I only have the films to go by, but my childhood wouldn't have been the same without the Griswold's hilariously sad attempts at going on holidays - be it Wallyworld, Europe or Christmas. There was always just something special about the films, the kind of comedy joy that made you tune in every time they were due to show on TV, no matter how often you had seen them. Even though time has dulled the edges on at least one of those films - European Vacation just doesn't hold up very well for me -  Christmas Vacation still gets a screening in this house every year.

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