Each of the early Vacation movies nails a certain aspect of middle class family life, be it the cross-country road trip or a rare overseas adventure, and most of their laughs come from the lack of romanticism or glossy, nostalgic veneer. They dig straight into the dirty reality of awkward family dynamics, the unfulfilled promise of adulthood and the emptiness of the American dream; weighty subjects for a comedy, but the results are never all that serious. This time we're home for the holidays, with a busy household of nosy, noisy, overly dramatic relatives, in from out of town for a long, unpleasant visit. A Lampoon stay-cation, in other words, with a whole mess of awful family obligations.

John Hughes is in the writer's chair again, delivering his usual high-quality, relatable laughs with just a hint of sentiment. Clearly, he's lived this life and made these mistakes, and with the benefit of hindsight, he's all too happy to share and enjoy with the rest of us. Chevy Chase runs the show on-screen, his stress levels spiked as the maligned, tormented family man who's always on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He's picture perfect as the seemingly-jolly patriarch with a devilish glint in one eye, and his visibly mounting frustrations enhance almost every scene before the inevitable blow-up.

As a whole, Christmas Vacation still makes for a great off-color family tradition. A few of the jokes have grown dated (like most of neighboring Julia Louis-Dreyfuss's home décor), but the spirit remains rich and the broad, physical humor is timeless.