You might know that National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was written by John Hughes, the guy behind ’80s classics like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. But did you know that before Hughes became a filmmaker he was a contributor to the National Lampoon magazine? In fact, he based his Christmas Vacation screenplay on one of his old Lampoon pieces, “Christmas ’59.” That’s just one of the cheerful facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!
Full disclosure: I missed the last 10 minutes of Vacation. Last night’s press screening started 20 minutes late, then began without any sound, which lead to a 10 minute delay to correct the technical difficulties. With an unbreakable engagement elsewhere, I had to sneak out right before the very last scene. So take this review with as many grains of salt as you’d like. If you think those final minutes might recontextualize everything that came before to transform a generally miserable comedy into a beacon of transcendent hilarity, so be it. Having sat through the previous 90 minutes, I’m of the opinion that nothing short of the long-lost missing footage from Orson Welles’ Magnificent Ambersons could have redeemed this dreadful film.