Clark Griswold plans an old fashioned family Christmas.

I enjoyed this one for it's humour and Chevy Chase's hilarious performance.

The story is pretty thin but contains a little nod to Dickens' A Christmas Carol with the Griswolds in place of the Cratchits and Brian Doyle-Murray playing a Scrooge-like Frank Shirley. The main focus is Clark's mission to have a big, joyful family Christmas and everything associated with this that goes spectacularly wrong.

As a comedy it is reasonably strong and the jokes come thick and fast. From the start we see Clark's visual buffoonery in a plethora of disastrous actions, decisions and situations. There is a fair bit of slapstick and one-liners that worked well for me. Also the family dynamics involving the children, grandparents and other eccentric relatives are easily recognisable.

Christmas Vacation is probably best known for Clark's ridiculously over the top exterior light show that he plasters all over the house. These are the strongest scenes in the movie and Chevy Chase has some of his most memorable moments here.

Chase's performance for me is superb. He can make me laugh with facial expressions, physical awkwardness and one-liners. It is him and his characters that carry most of his movies and this is no different. Clark is a control freak who has everything planned out and we have the pleasure of seeing him unravel as the plans backfire. He has good support from Beverly D'Angelo and the remaining cast but it all revolves around him. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has some funny moments as one half of a couple of Yuppie neighbours.

My only negatives are that it does contain a few too many recycled concepts from the original Vacation movie for my liking, such as 'the girl', the car-jump, animal death, Clarke's meltdown and heart to heart with a child. Also for me, the comedy dips in quality a bit in the second half, particularly with the protracted squirrel sequence and the repetition of fire/explosion related gags.

As 'Christmas movies' go it's pretty good. How many have a cultural impact you can actually see when driving around suburban housing estates after dark during the month of December?

The third installment in National Lampoon's Vacation film series, 'Christmas Vacation' is A Laugh Riot! A slap-stick, over-the-top comedy, that delivers laughter in abundance.

'Christmas Vacation' Synopsis: The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.

'Christmas Vacation' is gleefully funny & lively. John Hughes's Screenplay is notorious, wacky & extremely funny. Even the dialogue are so clever at times. Jeremiah S. Chechik's Direction is efficient. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, deserve a special mention.

Performance-Wise: Chevy Chase is fantastic, as always. He pulls off every joke with effortless ease. Beverly D'Angelo supports very well. Juliette Lewis is adorable, while Randy Quaid is in form. Johnny Galecki, John Randolph, Diane Ladd, William Hickey & Mae Questel are perfect. Julia Louis-Dreyfus & Nicholas Guest are splendid in cameos.

On the whole, 'Christmas Vacation' works big time.

A fun, Christmas-themed comedy movie featuring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. I liked this more than NATIONAL LAMPOON'S European VACATION, although I still haven't seen the original VACATION as yet. This film plays out as you'd expect, featuring Chase juggling the demands of his visiting family members with putting on the whole Christmas razzle-dazzle.

The first half of this film is particularly strong when it focuses on decent slapstick moments: the whole situation with the Christmas lights, the stuff in the attic, and the bit with the staple gun, which is my favourite moment. By the time all of the old-timers show up, it does start to get bogged down a bit, although the film is enlivened by the presence of Randy Quaid's enjoyably scuzzy cousin and there are some hilarious scenes like the turkey carving.

Occasionally, and especially towards the end, Christmas VACATION descends into schmaltz, but then that's down to John Hughes who can never resist inserting some sentimentality into his work (it's even there in my favourite of his films, PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, although John Candy is so sympathetic that it works). Chase and D'Angelo are on top form here and the film as a a whole is difficult to dislike as it has so much energy and so many constant gags. Watch out for a fresh-faced Juliette Lewis in one of her earlier performances.