Can you believe it? It’s that time of year already… Christmas time!! And with the festive season comes all those wonderful films you automatically think of at Christmas time; Die Hard, Home Alone, Miracle on 34th Street, The Santa Clause etc. This month however, we won’t be looking at those well-known Christmas films., we will instead be looking at four less admired holiday films throughout December’s piece. These may not be your first choices when it comes to your festive watchlist, but with almost as much charm as the usual’s, they are worth a look nonetheless.
Where better to start than with a classic of decades gone by, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989).
The third installment of the comedy franchise starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo, based upon the popular (but not well-known outside of the U.S.) National Lampoon’s humour magazines of the 1970’s – 90’s. This particular installment has a festive setting as lead character Clark Griswold (Chase), endeavours to have a great Christmas with his entire family (as he views it) present.
From the beginning, in true Lampoon’s fashion, everything starts to go wrong from the planning stage. Decorations fall apart, uninvited guests (Clarks cousin’s-in law) descend to create even more chaos, not to mention an unruly neighbour who does not even try to hide her disdain for the Griswold’s. Despite the constant disruptions however, the family patriarch persists in trying to create the perfect Christmas, which ultimately results in even more hilarious shenanigans.
While it received mixed views initially (compared to the previous two entries in the franchise anyway), it has since become a growing cult classic among a certain demographic. Written by John Hughes (director of timeless 80’s comedies such as The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) Christmas Vacation has that same family magic and relatability within the story as his other works. In fact, it was his work on this film that happened to get his script for one of the most famous Christmas movies of all-time greenlit, can you guess what it was? If you enjoy classic humour and seeing someone get hurt in hilarious ways, this one’s for you. Get a glimpse of some of the hilarious action in the clip below:
From a classic to a much more modern entry, our second film of the month is the romantic comedy, The Holiday (2006).
It mainly focuses on two recently single women played by seasoned actresses Kate Winslet (Titanic, Sense & Sensibility) & Cameron Diaz (There’s Something About Mary, Shrek), as their paths intertwine around the festive time. After finding her cheating ex is now engaged, Iris (Winslet, a newspaper columnist living in London) decides to advertise her house on a home swap website (which enables you to swap houses with someone else on the site, anywhere in the world, for a period of time) in order to take a break from her normal life. Amanda (Diaz, a movie trailer producer from Los Angeles), who coincidently has just dumped her own boyfriend; notices the listing which leads to the two into agreeing to swap places for two weeks.
The two women encounter very different experiences at first. Iris is pleasantly surprised by Amanda’s house and lifestyle, while Amanda wants nothing more than to return home after discovering Iris’ downsized lifestyle. Things start to change however, when Amanda happens upon Iris’ brother Graham (Jude Law). Soon after Iris herself meets Miles (Jack Black), a friend of Amanda’s and colleague of her ex, who is having relationship troubles himself.
Will love blossom between these two unlikely pairs? Well you’ll just have to watch it to find out. I can tell you that though critics gave it mixed reviews, they were mostly positive, praising the acting despite describing the plot as a bit mundane. Despite its run of the mill romcom tendencies, it is found to be quite sweet and a bit different from a lot of them, in some ways it is a slightly smaller version of Love Actually. If you love soppy, romantic Christmas films and pleasant scenery, this one’s for you. Watch a clip of one of this entries most famous scenes, Amanda and Grahams first meeting, by clicking the link below:
Next, we travel back to the wonderful 1980’s and to our earliest entry, the sometimes-overlooked Trading Places (1983).
An often-forgotten gem of a timeless comedy movie era, it stars three legends of the genre; Eddie Murphy (in only his second feature film), Dan Aykroyd and Jamie Lee Curtis (whose casting Paramount were against due to her association with horror films at the time). The feature itself is generally labelled as a sort of screwball comedy (a type of comedy mostly seen in the 1930’s and 40’s), focused on managing director Louis (Aykroyd) and street hustler Billy (Murphy) both situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When the two heads (The Duke brothers) of the commodities brokerage firm that Louis works for witness him and Billy fighting in the street (Louis believing Billy was trying to mug him), they decide to use the two in their own secret wager, pitting them against each other in a battle of wills to conduct their experiment based around the famous ‘nature vs nurture’ argument.
The brothers begin by switching the two’s lives around, by framing Louis for drug dealing, stealing and more; which results in him being fired and his bank accounts frozen, not to mention dumped by his fiance; and hiring Billy in his place (even letting him stay in Louis’ house). Louis is released on bail and meets a street worker named Ophelia (Curtis) who helps him adapt to life on the streets. The real fun begins when sometime later, the Dukes agree to settle their wager but neglect to return everything completely to how it is before. Billy realises their plan and tips Louis off, leading the two to try and turn the tables… evidently mad hijinks ensue.
At the time of release Trading Places received positive reviews from critics, focused mainly on the performances of it’s cast, it did however receive a little backlash over it’s use of a few racial jokes and for promoting the accumulation of wealth. It worked wonders for the main three cast members; either catapulting (in Murphy’s case, he became a household name and one of the most in demand comedic actors) or revitalizing their careers; with all three going on to feature in even bigger blockbusters of the decade (for example, Ghostbusters I & II, Beverly Hills Cop I & II, Coming to America, A Fish Called Wanda). Despite it’s obvious misgivings, it is as of today still praised, both as one of the greatest comedy and Christmas films ever made. You can start to experience some of that greatness by clicking the link below, to view a clip of one of Billy’s most humorous scenes:
Having gone all American for my first three entries of the month, I decided to finish with the only fully British production, Nativity! (2009). Suitably the most modern of our Christmas features, this one is also much more of a family film to watch with the children; in fact, most of its main focus is on an institution of children!
One of the most common events to see at this time of year is a Nativity (a production retelling the story of Jesus Christ birth, the true meaning of Christmas in some religions), which rather appropriately happens to be what this movie is all about, or more accurately TWO Nativity productions. The story is set at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary School in Coventry, with new teacher Paul Maddens (played by the delightful Martin Freeman: The Hobbit, Sherlock) the main focal point. Every year St. Bernadette’s competes against Protestant private school Oakmoor; led by Gordon Shakespeare (who steals every scene he’s in, thanks to the hilarious Jason Watkins who plays him); to see who can produce the better Nativity and usually face defeat.
When Mr. Maddens is tasked with producing the performance for the upcoming festive season, things go start to go more wayward than usual. Paul once harboured vibrant ambitions to be a big film actor, director or producer that were never realised; and when riled by Shakespeare boasting about his production ideas, these ambitions rear their head once more. Paul lies to his rival that his Hollywood producer ex-girlfriend will be coming to view his school’s production with the possibility of adapting it into a big-screen Hollywood film. The chaos begins, when Maddens teaching assistant (the over-zealous Mr. Poppy) overhears this false declaration and unable to contain his excitement, leaks the information to the local press. As a result, the lie very quickly begins to spread to every corner and hastily get out of hand, as Mr’s Maddens and Poppy try to achieve victory with a group of pupils with somewhat limited talent. It’s up to Paul to save the day and make amends for his brashness, but can he?
With an underlying theme of reigniting the joy and passion for Christmas in those who have lost it, Nativity! Is a somewhat generic yet delightfully sweet festive film; with enough nice comedic moments to make you glad you’ve seen it. It even went on to spawn a franchise (the first sequel is probably the best by far) and a stage musical in 2017. You can see an extract of it now, by clicking the link below:
As the holidays draw ever closer (Hooray!!), grab your cups of hot chocolate (or Egg Nog), plates of mince pies and huddle up by the fire ready to watch any and all of these underrated Christmas films to get you in the mood for the festive season. Worried about borrowing DVD’s over the holiday period? No need! All four of these seasonal flicks are available exclusively on Planet e-stream (as are many more), meaning you’ll be able to watch them wherever and whenever you like while you’re away from College! Thanks to the Library Services (with a little help from Technology & Media). So, get watching and enjoying, and have some very Happy Holidays!!
But don’t forget to come back in the new year to learn about many more films in the Library’s growing collection…
Bradford College Planet Estream.
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