Happy Almost New Year, friends!
Last year I had the idea to write a medley of holiday movies in the model of my annual Halloween movies round-up. I didn't get around to it, but I'm going to try to cram one in this year--admittedly somewhat late for the holidays themselves, but perfectly timed for anyone looking to drag out the season a few more days. I'm not sure that I'll make this a routine, but I'm nevertheless excited to try it out.
To update the Halloween model, I will use both my typical 1 - 5 rating for overall quality and our brand new sparkling holiday cheer/feel-goodness rating, from 1 - 5 snowflakes, which can be interpreted as follows:
* = Minimal cheer / feel-goodness
*** = Medium cheer / feel-goodness,
akin to a well-seasoned cup of eggnog or nicely marshmallowed mug of hot coco
and a nicely cosy sweater/lap blanket combo
***** = Maximum cheer / feel-goodness,
equivalent to Santa actively depositing presents under your Christmas tree
as delicate snowflakes begin descending from the tender fluffy clouds above
and a choir of precious little children starts singing perfectly tuned carols outside
in the soft light of the candles they carry
So with that, let's dive in!
A throw-backy option! While this isn't exactly the best movie, I appreciated the "Home Alone" (1990)-light energy of the slapstick-y holiday silliness of this movie (with considerably less outright violence). It kind of made me miss the solidly '80's / early '90's comedy movie aesthetic that required packing in as many silly sight gags and prop-based jokes as humanly possible, when so many of the more recent middling comedies can seem so comedically threadbare by comparison. Even if "Christmas Vacation" isn't a laugh-out-loud extravaganza of hilarity, you can at least see that the filmmakers are trying to make it as funny as possible.
This is unfortunately yet another Christmas movie I simply did not like, and not just because they cast Justin Hartley as a love interest and I'm solidly #TeamChrishell. While this movie successfully musters some holiday vibes, the fact that the main distinguishing trait of the trio of core characters (played by Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Kathryn Hahn) is that they're wantonly obnoxious in public doesn't exactly make you care that their moms are titularly bad. But the biggest nail in the coffin of this patently unpleasant movie is that it is one of countless holiday / family movies that actively coach its audience to favor family togetherness at all costs, even in the face of family member behavior that is unrepentantly emotionally abusive, insulting, and boundary-violating. I was officially done with this film when its emotional turning point occurred not when each of the adult daughters attempted to set boundaries with their "bad moms," but when Mila Kunis was somehow transformed into the bad guy *for* setting that boundary.... on Christmas (cue manipulative lip quiver). Yeah we officially have too many movies like this.
Alternatively, I would pay plenty of hard-earned money to watch movies about families who are just nice and respectful toward each other and then have wholesome holiday-based adventures together. Filmmakers PLEASE take note!
