Mind The Gap: National Lampoon Is....A Lot
Of course, like most everyday Americans, I’ve seen the National Lampoon Christmas movie more times than I can count. It isn’t necessarily one of my favorites, but it’s so iconic that it’s almost impossible to dislike. So many perfect quotes and scenes from such a ridiculous movie. This being said, I cannot put these other Lampoon vacation films in that same category. I was thinking that even though I didn’t have nostalgia for these specific 90-ish minute flicks, maybe the goodwill from the holiday one would carry over. Unfortunately, that was not the case.
I won’t try to claim that National Lampoon’s Vacation doesn’t have some amusing one liners and comic moments. However, good HEAVENS this is one horny movie. I don’t remember that being so prominent in the Christmas movie, and maybe it’s a bit more groundbreaking to actually show a married couple who are into each other, but I was actually a bit uncomfortable watching some of these scenes. I’m not a prude when it comes to my media, but there was a level of ickiness to the tone and lewd, smirking comments that didn’t sit well with me. It was present in both films, and was a main plot point of European Vacation, which you can see coming from a mile away during an early scene involving a video camera.
I should probably disclose that one of my biggest struggles with tv and movies is secondhand embarrassment. Cringe comedy makes me uneasy, and I cover my eyes and wince even more than if I’m sitting in front of a horror film. (It’s the reason I cannot handle Larry David properties.) And these movies are just train wreck after train wreck. It’s relentless. At one point, I think I actually said, “Oh, come on!” as things escalated. Also, as someone who frequents Does the Dog Die? throughout my media consumption, if you somehow are like me and haven’t seen it, there is a very upsetting scene about a dog’s cruel demise being a punchline. You don’t see it, but the verbiage is enough. That was enough to require me to take a break between the two movies for a palate cleanser.
While I don’t necessarily hate these movies, they definitely suffer without the nostalgia attached to them. In 2022, they stand for a brand of comedy I’m thrilled we’ve mostly moved away from. Only a handful of jokes and gags age well, and even those don’t shine too brightly considering the mess around them. It does fascinate me how large these movies loom in cinematic history, especially when you think about how it spawned a whole sub genre of movies along the lines of American Pie and it’s related films. I think I just expected them to be less bawdy and more of a “wholesome” ancestor to these raunchier films. A lot of my disappointment with these movies stem from just that: misplaced expectations. And I’m not sure I can fully blame National Lampoon for that.
Right about now, all I can hope for is that my upcoming trips in the next few months are the exact opposite of what I saw in these films.