Chase once again goes all out for Christmas. He cuts down a tree that is too big and too remote, he puts up enough Christmas lights on his house to threaten the neighborhood with a power outage, and he invites Griswold relatives (most of them well over 70) from all over the country to visit. As for Cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid), he invites himself, along with his wife, children, and pets.
Minor disasters ensue, including Quaid's kidnapping of Chase's Scrooge-like boss (Brian Doyle-Murray) and collateral damage to Chase's arrogant preppy neighbors Nicholas Guest and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
How others will see it. Christmas Vacation is the most popular film of the franchise, which constitutes four movies if you discount the 2015 pseudo-sequel. At imdb.com, Christmas Vacation has more user votes and a higher user rating than Vacation, which launched the franchise.
Is this because Christmas comes every year, and brings to television all the new "classic" Xmas movies? That would explain the vote total, but not the user votes. For example, Jingle All the Way, Ah-nold's Christmas embarrassment, has a user rating of 5.5 and it was a box office hit. Christmas Vacation is far better liked at 7.6 out of 10.
The user reviews, of course, explain the difference. Christmas Vacation has a feel-good vibe. Randy Quaid is a hoot, Juliette Lewis entices the young adult viewer, Ellen Latzen is adorable, the elderly actors are amusing, and most of all, the audience commiserates with Chevy Chase in his resolute (though incompetently executed) mission of providing his family with the best Christmas ever.
How I felt about it. The man most responsible for the commercial success of Christmas Vacation does not appear in front of the camera. He is John Hughes, also the writer for Vacation, Mr. Mom, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Uncle Buck, and Home Alone, just to mention the most popular among the films from his ten-year (1983 to 1992) heyday.
Not one of John Hughes films previously mentioned grade as high as 60. But they made their studios a lot of money, and every white American between the ages of 40 and 50 has seen most of them. And they are watchable, filled with attractive young adults, meddlesome middle-aged antagonists, and amusing (if often unbelievable) situations.
It is certainly beyond the scope of the present review to explain why the late John Hughes films are better liked than they are good, though the explanation is at least partly cultural. Instead of generalizations, the focus will be on Christmas Vacation.
Chevy Chase is closer to Inspector Clouseau than James Bond. That is, though he survives his troubles intact, as does his family, he puts them through unnecessary peril, and he can be downright disastrous for outsiders, such as Quaid's pet cat and humorless foil Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
In fact, the best advice for those around Chevy Chase is to flee the vicinity. If you are his wife, abandon him. If you are his child, run away from home. If you are a relative, change your address and phone number. God help you if you employ him, but if you have done so, have security escort him from the building as quickly as possible.