Christmas Vacation 1989

Janet Maslin, New York Times: The new film does little more than reintroduce these familiar characters (with new actors playing the children, who would otherwise be college age by now) and let them get on one another's nerves in earnest. Read more

Hollywood Reporter: In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Chevy Chase's family Christmas tree is a little full with a lot of sap, much like this movie. But it's a big-hearted fullness and it's a smoothly stirred sap. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: One of the great unanswered questions in Hollywood is how Chevy Chase still gets work. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Sequence after sequence seems to contain all the necessary material, to be well on the way toward a payoff, and then it somehow doesn't work. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Solid family fare with plenty of yocks. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: Christmas Vacation may not be a fancy package, but it is a diverting stocking stuffer. Read more