Monday, December 6, 2010

What fresh hell is this?

#39. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

Wow, that's 97 minutes I'll never get back.



So it wasn't too bad until the last third really. Before that it was ok; nothing funny really happened, but I wasn't hating it. And obviously I don't have nostalgia to work with, but I can't see having liked this even as a kid. I have never been a fan of obvious humor. Or fucking awful movies.

And by obvious I mean prat falls and big sight gags that are overly set-up. Any joke was preceded by the sort of set-up that panders to the lowest common denominator. (Gee, what's gonna happen?!) Another example? The neighbors (one of whom is played by Julia Louis-Drefus). The fuck did the neighbors ever do? They're childless and drawn on the pratty side, therefore they get to suffer a number of mishaps due to the Griswalds, (events that are mostly unintentional but never addressed), and for no real reason except, once again, obvious and vaguely mean-spirited laughs.

I almost didn't make it through. Electrocuting cats is FUNNY! Old people are SENILE! Time for another ANIMAL GAG! I really started to hate myself and John Hughes both. He wrote and produced this. I will try to block this from my mind to preserve the admiration I normally have for Hughes.

Worst of all is the forced genuine wrap-up moment at the end when he tried to say how Christmas isn't all about money when clearly it has been for him. Garfield had more sincerity in its Christmas message, for fucks sake, not to mention it felt like someone actually spent more than two minutes writing it.

Seriously, I'm almost in a bad mood I hated it that much.

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