Day 23: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
“Hey! If any metformin weight loss 1000 mg of you are looking for any last-minute gift ideas for me, I have one. I’d like Frank Shirley, my boss, right here tonight. I want him brought from his happy holiday slumber over there on Melody Lane with all the other rich people and I want him brought right here, with a big ribbon on his head, and I want to look him straight in the eye and I want to tell him what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, four-flushing, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, inbred, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, dog-kissing, brainless, dickless, hopeless, heartless, fat-ass, bug-eyed, stiff-legged, spotty-lipped, worm-headed sack of monkey shit he is! Hallelujah! Holy shit! Where’s the Tylenol?”
There is metformin 500 mg dosage one Christmas tradition that has remained constant in my family: Christmas Vacation. Since 1990, we haven’t gone a year without watching (together or separately) National Lampoon’s Vacation sequel. It’s one of about two dozen movies that I could recite the dialogue along with the film without missing a beat, but considering that script was written by ’80s comedy-master, John Hughes, it’s not that surprising.
I think that biggest draw is that I’ve gone through some ridiculous Christmases, as I’m sure a lot of people have, but you could rip most of the characters in the film out of the movie and they’d be extended family members (I’m looking at you Cousin Eddie! [not a joke]). You sympathize more with characters that you can connect with through their pain and suffering. Being a complex, “real” character is one thing, but being able to connect with an audience is another. And if you can’t sympathize with Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold in his failed attempt to create the perfect Christmas, then you may be a little dead inside. Because of its relatability, Christmas Vacation has that universal appeal that makes it timeless. A lot of comedies are relatable, but many can’t survive the test of time.
The one component that ties classic comedies together is a hilarious script. You can be the most well-made comedy in the world, but if you aren’t hailed as genuinely hysterical then you’ve missed the mark. Unsurprisingly, film comedies live and die by their laughs, and while everyone has their own opinion of what’s funny, there are certain movies that most can agree have that quality: films like Some Like It Hot, Animal House, Ghostbusters, Dr. Strangelove, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Dumb & Dumber, and Modern Times to name a few.
National Lampoon’s Vacation films (the original and Christmas) are comedies that’ll be remembered in 100 years. But Christmas Vacation does have an edge in my book, because I’ve actually seen people almost die from laughing while watching Christmas Vacation. Dumb & Dumber may be the only other comedy where I’ve witnessed someone cry while watching, but I’ve seen multiple people tear up in hysterics with Christmas Vacation. Levels of hilarity must count for something.
