A Christmas Story Christmas 
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes
Director: Clay Kaytis
My Rating:
Christmas movie month is December but the Christmas season starts the day after Thanksgiving. This is when we decided to watch the sequel to “A Christmas Story”. The usual comments ensued when this movie was announced. “Hollywood is out of ideas!” “Why ruin a classic?”. Yadda yadda yadda. I’ll admit that I was skeptical. I’m not one of those people that can continuously watch this movie during its 24-hour marathon on Christmas Day. However, I’m also not one of those people that despise it either. Once is good enough for me.
The question then is, how well does this movie live up to the original?
I quite enjoyed it! As far as Christmas movies go, this is definitely in the top 20 must-watch Christmas movies! I would still recommend watching this one even if you are not a fan of the original movie. In fact, I might even go so far as to say this is better than the original! I may even watch it a second time this year!
Spoilers Ahead!!!
It Pays Respectable Homage to the Original
This movie actually pays double homage. It does really well paralleling the original film without overdoing it. The original actors for Ralphie, Randy, Flick, Schwartz, and even Scut Farkus are back to reprise their roles. The movie takes place about 30 years after the original film. Ralphie is grown up (obviously) with two kids of his own living somewhere in the Chicago area. He is a struggling author trying to write his first bestseller.
It’s about a week before Christmas and he is awaiting the arrival of his parents when he gets a devastating phone call. Now he and his family return to his childhood home in Hohman, IN (which is fictional, by the way).
It is now up to Ralphie to make Christmas as magical as his Old Man did, while also trying to write an obituary. Darren MacGavin, the actor that played The Old Man, passed away back in 2006. I believe this movie also pays homage to him.
The sequel pays tribute to the original as Ralphie relives some of his childhood memories, complete with kooky (and some hilarious) daydream sequences; and it’s all done really well.
The end is the absolute best part of the movie. Instead of writing an obituary, he writes a story about The Old Man which gets published in the local newspaper instead.
I’m not going to ruin the rest, because the ending is too good. If you want to know how it turns out, then go watch for yourself! It’s available on HBO Max.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick