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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

post #1 of 51
12/14/10 at 3:54pm
Thread Starter 
As part of a work holiday party, we had lunch catered in and watched CHRISTMAS VACATION. Despite being in college when it was first released, I've never actually seen it. Caught small bits and pieces on cable, but never sat and watched the entire thing. And now that I have, I have a simple question:

People actually find this funny?

I mean, I can understand having some nostalgic attachment if you were really young when you saw it for the first time (really young or really high). But it's awful, telegraphed, predictable humor. Gags that were old when Antiphanes was marking up parchment. VACATION makes AIRPLANE! look like a subtle study of cultural humor.

Chevy Chase is really, really horrid in it. There are a couple of moments when he's allowed off the mugging/clueless leash, but for the most part the role could have been played by anyone.

The only positive: Beverly D'Angelo was quite the hottie back then. And the requisite Christie Brinkley stand-in.

A CHRISTMAS STORY has a big fan base, and that makes sense to me; it's a solid, well-told tale. But the love CHRISTMAS VACATION gets makes no sense to me at all.
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post #2 of 51
12/14/10 at 3:58pm
'Mornin'! Shitter's full!'

Randy Quaid's great but the rest of the film is entirely on autopilot. It's good for a few mild laughs, nothing more.

Push for 'the Ref' or 'Bad Santa' for next year's party.
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post #3 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:05pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
'Mornin'! Shitter's full!'

Randy Quaid's great but the rest of the film is entirely on autopilot. It's good for a few mild laughs, nothing more.
Yeah, I failed to mention Quaid. Tells you something about the source material and direction when Quaid outshines Chase with no effort.

Quote:
Push for 'the Ref' or 'Bad Santa' for next year's party.
Heh. We actually joked about showing BAD SANTA. I'd rather watch KISS KISS BANG BANG but run into the same R-rated issues.
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post #4 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:11pm
For what it's worth, it went over like gangbusters when I saw it theatrically back in 1989. It certainly hasn't held up in any of my viewings since then.

Love the lingerie saleswoman on the diving board, though.
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post #5 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
For what it's worth, it went over like gangbusters when I saw it theatrically back in 1989. It certainly hasn't held up in any of my viewings since then.
What I saw today confirmed every suspicion I've had of the movie for 21 years: tired, worn out gags playing out to the LCD. It really boggles me that people enjoy this and, of their own free will, watch it more than once.

(I don't know why, but badly done comedy infuriates me. No other genre crap - emotional schmaltz, torture porn, etc. - affects me like this. For whatever reason, I feel personally and deeply insulted by it.)

Quote:
Love the lingerie saleswoman on the diving board, though.
Oh, yeah. She was incredibly hot. But again, served no real purpose (other than a super lame callback to Brinkley in the first flick, and the LCD factor.)
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post #6 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:25pm
Its dumb and cheesy but this is one I watch with my family each Christmas and never get tired of it. I get a lot of mileage out of some of the gags just because they hit close to home; stuff like helping put up millions of Christmas lights or driving out to the middle of nowhere to chop down a tree. I can relate.

A lot of the big stupid slapstick gags always feel like they're trying too hard (the sled ride, the sewer explosion, the squirrel), but there's a lot of smaller moments that I find hilarious. Chase may be hit or miss here, but him and Quaid play off each other quite well.
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post #7 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:28pm
I think people enjoy it--and I count myself one of them so I must be a member of your LCD--because there's a certain relatibility to the film. Sure, it's heightened and cartoonish, but we all recognize things like (a) the frustrations of hanging Christmas lights, (b) finding the perfect Christmas tree, (c) keeping peace among the various relations. We laugh because we can understand Clark's frustrations. And we root for the guy because he's only trying to do right by his family.

That being said, it will never be It's A Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Story or, hell, Elf.
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post #8 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:32pm
Thread Starter 
But if you hadn't seen it as a kid or teen - if you came to it as an adult - would you still find it funny? I'm not asking to be a prick or out of sarcasm. I'm sincerely wondering if the pass people give the film is due to seeing it at a young age.

And with respect to the common frustrations of the seasons, I understand what the movie is trying to do. I just think it fails in every respect.

(I own HUDSON HAWK, so I may rightly be accused of being a large hypocrite here in lambasting a shitty comedy.)
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post #9 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Randy Quaid's great
They need to resurrect William Hickey so he can explain to people that's not a star whacker, it's just the light on the sewage treatment plant.

lol I went there
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post #10 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:48pm
I haven't seen Christmas Vacation since I was 15, but I remember thinking it was better than either the European or Vegas Vacations.

Excepting his cameo in Dirty Work, I feel this film and the underrated Fletch Lives (which came out around the same time) would mark the last times Chase would be funny on-screen.
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post #11 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravi View Post
I haven't seen Christmas Vacation since I was 15, but I remember thinking it was better than either the European or Vegas Vacations.

Excepting his cameo in Dirty Work, I feel this film and the underrated Fletch Lives (which came out around the same time) would mark the last times Chase would be funny on-screen.
Do you not get NBC?
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post #12 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:54pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravi View Post
I haven't seen Christmas Vacation since I was 15, but I remember thinking it was better than either the European or Vegas Vacations.
If true - and I have no reason to believe that it's not - it makes me shudder to think how awful those films must be. Haven't seen them and never, ever want to.

Quote:
Excepting his cameo in Dirty Work, I feel this film and the underrated Fletch Lives (which came out around the same time) would mark the last times Chase would be funny on-screen.
Echoing Ripoll. You need to watch Commmunity.
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post #13 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:54pm
No, Patrick I actually don't have a TV right now. My laptop and Netflix Instant act as my "television".

You're refering to Chase's appearance on Community right? I haven't seen the show yet, but will remedy it. My post earlier had more to do with Chase's funniness in a theatrical film.
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post #14 of 51
12/14/10 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
But if you hadn't seen it as a kid or teen - if you came to it as an adult - would you still find it funny?
I think I would. Parts of it at least. Nostalgia is definitely a factor, but it doesn't really have anything to do with how old I was when I first saw the movie. Christmas Vacation has a way of echoing fond memories I have from past holidays and family events and I think if I sat down with my Dad today and watched it for the very first time, we'd still get a kick out of watching Clark check every single light strand and every single bulb because we've been there.
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post #15 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:11pm
I love how absolutely bored Juliette Lewis is as THIS film's version of Audrey.
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post #16 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:14pm
Nostalga factors in for me. But it's our familys #1 Christmas flick we watch it every year and always laugh at the same shit even though we've seen it a million times.

Randy Quaid is indeed the best part.
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post #17 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:16pm
This movie is fucking great.
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post #18 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:22pm
Thread Starter 
Huh. Guess I'm the comedy Scrooge with this one. I really can't say why it just grates on me so much, but there you go. YMMV and all that, I suppose.
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post #19 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:26pm
An extremely funny movie, and the best of the VACATION series.
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post #20 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malmordo View Post
Agreed. This is an extremely funny movie, and the best of the VACATION series.
Let's not go overboard, here. The first one is a genuine classic.
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post #21 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Let's not go overboard, here. The first one is a genuine classic.
Loses steam somewhere along the way (I don't think any of the material at Wally World is funny, despite Candy's game performance). It's lagging far behind GROUNDHOG DAY and CADDYSHACK in Ramis' directing career.
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post #22 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:33pm
Yea, it's not as good as the original Vacation, but it's easily the 2nd-best and it's still damn funny. I saw it in the theater when it came out in 1989 (I was 15) and laughed my ass off. Still love it to this day, it's insanely quotable, and we watch it every year. Good stuff.
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post #23 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
Huh. Guess I'm the comedy Scrooge with this one. I really can't say why it just grates on me so much, but there you go. YMMV and all that, I suppose.
I'd like to know what other completely inoffensive middling comedies infuriate you so.

And saying that Vacation runs out of steam once they get to Wally World is saying that you didn't like the last 8 minutes of the film, which isn't too shabby. As it stands, National Lampoon's Vacation is one of the only things John Hughes has ever done that I don't out and out despise, and the only one I like.
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post #24 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:33pm
Enjoyable. The type of comedy that makes one smile, if not so much as laugh.

The BD transfer leaves much to be desired too.
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post #25 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
I'd like to know what other completely inoffensive middling comedies infuriate you so.
Keep in mind I have two daughters - now in their teens - and I was forced to watch a LOT of shitty "family comedies" that I think fall into this "inoffensive" category - the Steve Martin CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN remakes, YOURS, MINE AND OURS, etc. I don't see how CHRISTMAS VACATION is any better than those - they're all completely predictable, hoary gag using, middle of the road comedies. Hell, I'd rate the CHEAPER movies as better, because I think Martin's a lot more sympathetic than Chase, and XMAS VACATION pays lip service to family and togetherness, but has all the actual warmth of Christmas Eve spent under the bridge with the winos.

CHRISTMAS VACATION reminded me heavily of the POLICE ACADEMY series, which I also loathe for the exact same reasons: tired shit that was tired 3000 years ago when Oedipus was breaking ground.
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post #26 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:49pm
I like it. I can't answer if I'd feel that way if I hadn't watched it when I was younger, but it's also not worth really troubling myself about. Every single time I watch it, when Cousin Eddie comes out with that cream colored sweater with the fake turtle neck underneath it with the incredibly visible dickie it makes me laugh like an idiot.

Edited to add picture:



C'mon. That's funny.
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post #27 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
tired shit that was tired 3000 years ago when Aristophanes was breaking ground.
Fixed.
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post #28 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:52pm
This is definitely on my Christmas movie watching list.

In no particular order:
Christmas Vacation
Scrooged
A Christmas Story
Bad Santa
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post #29 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:53pm
Thread Starter 
I did laugh a few times - and the sweater/dickey combination was pretty great - but it was, for me, the rare exception. That worked because it wasn't telegraphed or sledgehammered; it was just there, and Quaid didn't called attention to it. 98% of the attempted humor in the film isn't like that. It's telegraphed using an aluminum baseball bat.

Seriously, never mind me. A lot of folks here love it, and I get that. For whatever reason, the film just pisses me off. I'll take solace in my KISS KISS BANG BANG DVD.
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post #30 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
I did laugh a few times
This already puts it well ahead of the Cheaper By The Dozen films.
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post #31 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mangy View Post
This already puts it well ahead of the Cheaper By The Dozen films.
Laughing three times in 90 minutes for a film that's supposed to be nonstop comedy isn't a victory. CHEAPER isn't meant to be a laugh a minute.

And don't mistake my faint praise; I hated the CHEAPER films. I'd rather have my intestines barbecued in front of me than watch them again. I just don't see how anyone can persuasively argue that XMAS VACATION's humor is "better" or more enjoyable. For me, it all feels like really awful sitcom writing.
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post #32 of 51
12/14/10 at 5:59pm
If you want to cheat and get some Chase in the snow action, check out Funny Farm: It's one of the few Chase movies which I actually enjoy over just tolerating it.
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post #33 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Agent Z View Post
If you want to cheat and get some Chase in the snow action, check out Funny Farm: It's one of the few Chase movies which I actually enjoy over just tolerating it.
I totally forgot about 'Funny Farm'. I only saw it once back in the 90s but I remember it being pretty funny.

We'll always have 'Fletch', though. That's his masterpiece.
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post #34 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:08pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
We'll always have 'Fletch', though. That's his masterpiece.
FLETCH is really great. Need to get that one, but I'm holding off new purchases in anticipation of getting a Blu-ray player in early 2011.

"Using the whole fist, doc?"
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post #35 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:11pm
Please, Aristophanes used that fist line early in Lysistrata.

I kid.
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post #36 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:12pm
Thread Starter 
Heh. I'm resigned to being the crotchety old man WRT XMAS VACATION. Fine with y'all enjoying it.
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post #37 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
Heh. I'm resigned to being the crotchety old man WRT XMAS VACATION. Fine with y'all enjoying it.
It's OK. I'm the guy who loathes 'the Fifth Element', 'Speed Racer', and 'Top Secret'. 'Christmas Vacation' is small pototoes.
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post #38 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:25pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
It's OK. I'm the guy who loathes 'the Fifth Element',
Pistols at dawn, sirrah.

ETA: Joking. I actually get why someone wouldn't like FIFTH, but I've never seen the CHUD-loved SPEED RACER, nor have I seen TOP SECRET all the way through.
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post #39 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:28pm
One of the few scenes worth re-watching is Clark flipping out over the terrible Christmas bonus check.
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post #40 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:34pm
"You check our shitters honey" "They want you to say grace....the blessing.......I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNTIED STATES OF AMERCICA" "If that cat had 9 lives...he just used em all" " Hey kids...i heard on the radio they spotted santas sleigh.....YOU SERIOUS CLARK" "Merry xmas...merry xmas...kiss my ass..kiss his ass...kiss your ass....happy hanakuh" "you cant see the line can you russ" "It's a bit nippley out..nippy out...hahaha...what did i say..nipple" An instant xmas classic this movie will always be....and those are just some of the funny lines from the film. "The little lights arent twinkling...I KNOW ART..AND THANKS FOR NOTICING"
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post #41 of 51
12/14/10 at 6:35pm
It's not the first one, but it's got moments. Gets ridiculous there towards the end though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Judas Booth View Post
Push for 'the Ref' or 'Bad Santa' for next year's party.
Agreed. Those and Scrooged.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravi View Post
Excepting his cameo in Dirty Work, I feel this film and the underrated Fletch Lives (which came out around the same time) would mark the last times Chase would be funny on-screen.
I know there's really nobody to blame for this but myself, well, I don't know, maybe the Buffalo Bills, the Boston Red Sox or Mr. T or the Jets...

Wait a minute Mr. T? Are you telling me that you bet on the fight in Rocky III and that you bet against Rocky?
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post #42 of 51
12/14/10 at 7:07pm
I'm a fan of the movie, and I try to watch it at least once before Christmas. Randy Quaid was pure comedy gold, and Chevy Chase was pretty good as well. I laugh every time I see Clark's tirade over his Christmas bonus.
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post #43 of 51
12/14/10 at 8:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by matalo View Post
This is definitely on my Christmas movie watching list.

In no particular order:
Christmas Vacation
Scrooged
A Christmas Story
Bad Santa
My list is exactly the same, except I include Die Hard. Yes...it is a Christmas movie damnit.
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post #44 of 51
12/14/10 at 8:13pm
It's fun. Most of my family loves the thing, and it gets watched every Christmas. I've seen it so many times that I usually skip out of the room when someone opens the DVD. When I waltz back in, though, I usually laugh still.

I really don't think it's all that schmaltzy - just an over-the-top take on holiday parties. The attic scene is pretty much unneeded and the one part of the movie I can think of that's trying to be way too sentimental; it didn't work the first time I saw it as a kid and it doesn't work now. The rest is basically a book on everything one wouldn't want to go wrong during a family party (multiplied by a million). Clark doesn't learn any lessons about Christmas, his in-laws still think he's a joke, his neighbors probably hate him more than ever, etc. I guess his boss learns a lesson, but I don't see how that's any more schmaltzy than those awkward musical cues in 90% of the holiday films I've seen whenever characters realize that the holidays are all about spending time with the family.

It's still not a "good" movie, but I think it is many levels ahead of most of the films like this (like The Family Stone).
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post #45 of 51
12/14/10 at 8:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by John Matrix View Post
I'm a fan of the movie, and I try to watch it at least once before Christmas. Randy Quaid was pure comedy gold, and Chevy Chase was pretty good as well. I laugh every time I see Clark's tirade over his Christmas bonus.
I think I read that Chase made that entire diatribe up right on the spot.
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post #46 of 51
12/14/10 at 9:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackgumball View Post
"You check our shitters honey" "They want you to say grace....the blessing.......I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNTIED STATES OF AMERCICA" "If that cat had 9 lives...he just used em all" " Hey kids...i heard on the radio they spotted santas sleigh.....YOU SERIOUS CLARK" "Merry xmas...merry xmas...kiss my ass..kiss his ass...kiss your ass....happy hanakuh" "you cant see the line can you russ" "It's a bit nippley out..nippy out...hahaha...what did i say..nipple" An instant xmas classic this movie will always be....and those are just some of the funny lines from the film. "The little lights arent twinkling...I KNOW ART..AND THANKS FOR NOTICING"
Yeah, I love all those lines. But for me, it's the throw away jokes that I tend to laugh at the most, especially Clark's little comments in regards to Eddie. Like "Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?" or "I bet it's a fortune, Clark!" "heh heh, I bet you do Eddie...". Even Julia Louisse Dreyfuss punching her boyfriends lights out and sending him over the couch makes me laugh, even if the act itself isn't particularly funny. I'm sure nostalgia plays a big part of why I'm so fond of the movie, but I genuinely think it is a funny movie.
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post #47 of 51
12/15/10 at 12:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Iron Maiden View Post
I think I read that Chase made that entire diatribe up right on the spot.
I always suspected that it was ad-libbed.
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post #48 of 51
12/15/10 at 3:22pm
HALLELUJA, HOLY SHIT! Where's the Tylenol?

Much love for Christmas Vacation. It's hilarious, and like others have said, once Randy Quaid enters the movie, he owns it.

So many little bits that are hilarious like when Clark refers to Eddie as his "Cousin In Law" and when the cops break in, and they say freeze, and you can see Ellen has her hand cupped on Clark's crotch.

Then there's William Hickey coming in and stealing the movie from Randy Quaid. "JESUS. Did the room clear out Bethany? Hell no! He means presents! We forgot to bring presents!"

"You couldn't hear a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant." "Gris! You're not doing anything constructive. Run over to the living room and get my stogies!"
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post #49 of 51
12/25/10 at 12:34pm
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post #50 of 51
12/25/10 at 2:38pm
I suppose the big slapstick scenes are kind of "meh", but there's plenty humor aside from that, especially from Chase, Quaid and the dual scene-stealing of Mae Questel (this was the last film for the former Betty Boop) and William Hickey. It's a bit corny, sure, but it works, and I find myself smiling every time.
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