12 Days of Christmas Movies, Day 10

"National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation" (1989)

"We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse."

This film represents the last gasp of the "National Lampoon's Vacation" series, and maybe even for any film that has a title including the National Lampoon brand. I mean, seriously, "Van Wilder?"

I talked about lovable jackasses in the "Scrooged" entry, but nobody out-jackasses Carl Griswold. Every scene he's in, Chevy Chase bumbles, irritates, and pratfalls his way from one shitty situation to another. The major contribution this film has to society, of course, is entering the phrase "nipply" into the lexicon, as a way to describe cold weather.

Many recognizable actors litter the landscape on this one, as well; look for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Doris Roberts, character actors William Hickey and Brian Doyle-Murray, the original "Betty Boop" Mae Questel, and of course Randy Quaid as Eddie. Having viewed this recently after a few years, I totally had forgotten that Juliette Lewis was in this too, and that's a face that's hard to forget for anyone ... and not in a good way.