National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – (1989)
Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Juliette Lewis, Randy Quaid
Another ‘80s classic, this one sees family man Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) try his best to provide the perfect family Christmas and continually fall foul of his own expectations, his nasty neighbors, his parsimonious boss and his wild relations with his cousin (top performance by Randy Quaid). The plot is essentially a demonstration of Murphy’s Law: anything that can go wrong does go wrong. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was still capable of attracting an audience five years after its release. Definitely a Christmas classic.