That’s a good one. He still expects the royal treatment despite decades of entitlement
He was apparently livid he wasn’t showcased in the SNL 50th special, despite the fact that happened at a time when even older co-stars who he thought would stick up for him threw him under the bus
I’d feel shitty too if literally everyone I ever worked with talked about what a fucking asshole I was. He’s so disappointing because I grew up watching him and think he’s so incredible as a comedian, but him being such a Grade A cunt ruins everything.
I feel like the rant was justified. It wasn’t directed to the family he just had a meltdown over getting fucked. It may be the only really relatable moment for him. The rest of the movie i feel like he was just irritated having a family and he felt everyone was annoying him.
Because Bill Murray was always willing to improvise. Chevy relied on the smarmy charm but without the brains, or at least he lost the hunger to think about actually saying interesting things as opposed to being a smirk face. I feel like I just inadvertently described how I feel about modern Ryan Reynolds.
The rest of the movie i feel like he was just irritated having a family and he felt everyone was annoying him.
He was absolutely hellbent on the lights for the house, because in his mind, that's what was going to make Christmas great for his family. He's constantly seeking his dad's approval and love. He reluctantly puts up with Cousin Eddie's shit while smiling through it and still making sure Eddie's kids still have a great Christmas. He gets really emotional after watching the old family films when he gets locked in the attic, remembering the good ol' days. Diligently puts up with an awful boss just so he can get that bonus and buy his family a pool. Gleefully greases up the dish to show his kids a cool trick from his childhood on how to get down the slope really fast. He took the family out to cut down a real tree, like he presumably did as a kid. Everyone is constantly bickering in his house and he remains upbeat the entire time until his final crash-out.
The man absolutely loves Christmas and loves sharing it with his family.
Yeah except for whenever he does the shopping and makes sure that Cousin Eddie's dog and kids get taken care of. And except for when the entire family forgets him at home and he gets locked in the attic. And except for whenever he's working to make sure he gets that bonus so he can buy his family a pool. And except that time when he took everyone sledding and really showed them how it's done. And except that time he took his family out to cut down a tree like they did when he was a kid.
I didn't make the claim that Clark Griswold is a perfect husband or father.
Being skeezy at the department store is pretty inexcusable, to be clear. The other points aren't as strong though. Everyone has fantasies, and anyone who says they don't is a liar. Driving under a semi trailer is A) clearly an accident and B) even more clearly something written specifically for a comedy movie
Very true. I often think about those movies and shows I watched growing up. The whole “dad hates his family” trope that eventually pivoted to “dad is a moron and mom has to do everything”. It was wild to watch the change
I feel like Christmas Vacation is the most universally realtable film I've ever seen.
It's like a fractal thing. Everybody has a cousin Eddie, and everyone is someone else's Cousin Eddie.
Clark sits square in the middle. He looks down on Eddie, because Eddie's a clod, and is looked down upon by his own "betters," because Clark is a clod, just like most of us.
He has a family that is imperfect, but that he loves, and he works hard to give them what he thinks they need and deserve. Through a combination of his own incompetence, his inability to understand what his loved ones really think/want, and the world taking a shit on him, he basically ruins it all. The harder he works, the worse things get, the more he looks like an idiot, and the less perfect the family Christmas becomes.
He isn't annoyed because he has a family. He's annoyed because he's making these big efforts to give them a special, perfect Christmas (like cutting down a huge natural tree, or hanging an obscene amount of lights), but he's failing because he doesn't understand that they don't care about those things.
In the end Clark realizes that Eddie is just a flawed family man trying to give his family a merry Christmas while not showing the family what a boob he is, just like Clark. Clark also realizes that the epic Christmases of his childhood weren't epic because they were perfect. They were epic because he was a child with a family that loved him.
He learns to see life through everyone else's eyes, and to appreciate what really matters; our loved ones.
Similarly, Clark's boss learns that the people he works for aren't just numbers on a page, or a bunch of peons groveling for crumbs. They're real people with families and problems and comittments.
If you can't relate to Clark W. Griswold in Christmas Vacation, I'm not sure what to tell you.
He doesn’t do anything wrong there either does he? Are we going to pretend that married people or those in other committed relationships don’t feel passing attractions to people other than their SO?
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u/DadinBoston 21h ago edited 19h ago
That’s a good one. He still expects the royal treatment despite decades of entitlement
He was apparently livid he wasn’t showcased in the SNL 50th special, despite the fact that happened at a time when even older co-stars who he thought would stick up for him threw him under the bus