A Christmas Story Christmas

2022

PG

The beloved Christmas cult classic gets a modern sequel and it is exclusively on HBO Max. The original film, A Christmas Story, was released back in 1983, so it feels like it was long overdue to provide a decent sequel. There have been remakes in the past, but they didn’t come close to capturing the magic of the original movie. Remakes and sequels rarely do capture the magic of the original films, but sometimes they can be at least a good complement to the original. Due to the shortcomings of the prior sequels, this particular version didn’t have big shoes to fill, but fans of the original obviously want a good sequel. Does it live up to the expectations? Keep reading to find out my thoughts, there will be spoilers, so skip the next 2 paragraphs if you want to avoid the detailed synopsis.

The year is 1973 and Ralph Parker (Peter Billingsly) now is married and has two children. Ralph along with wife, Sandy (Erinn Hayes), and children Mark (River Drosche) and Julie (Juliana Layne) live in Chicago and Ralph is an aspiring writer. His goal is to have a novel published that he has been working on all year, but no publisher is interested in his 2,000-page epic novel. The family is getting everything prepared for Christmas, but Ralph’s mother, (Julie Hagerty) calls him and informs him that his father has passed away. Ralph decides that the family should stay with her for the holiday in the house he grew up in back in Hohman, Indiana and a flood of memories return. Ralph’s father had a passion for making Christmas enjoyable for everyone and Ralph now feels it is his responsibility to make the holiday as fun as it was for him as a kid. Not only that, he is asked to write his father’s obituary, which is something he isn't looking forward to.

Ralph gets reacquainted with some childhood friends and his children even make an acquaintance in one of the Bumpus children. It’s Christmas Eve and Ralph and Sandy need to do some Christmas shopping while Julie and Mark visit with the mall Santa. Ralph is forced to do all of the shopping due to Sandy injuring herself. It appears that Christmas was going according as planned, but some unfortunates take place. Ralph accidently injures Julie and while the family is in the hospital waiting room, all of the Christmas presents are stolen. They decide not to involve the police, and instead opt to teach their kids about thoughtfulness instead of luxury of getting gifts they want. As the star of the tree falls and breaks, Ralph is tasked with finding a star because he told Julie that Santa wouldn't come unless there’s a star on the tree. No stores are opened because it is Christmas Eve night, but he happens to find a star, but it is inside his friend Flick’s bar, which is also closed. He breaks into the bar and takes the star, but is caught by a police officer who happens to be Scut Farkus, Ralph’s childhood bully. Afraid of what might happen to him now, he visualizes a life where he is in jail for the next few years, but he snaps back into reality and Farkus decides to drop him off back at his house because he helped him straighten his life out. Christmas is saved for the Parker family and despite not thinking they were going to have a good Christmas, the kids received everything they asked for thanks to their late Grandfather. Not only that, Ralph gets his story on his father published in the local paper and is offered a job as a published syndicate writer. The story he wrote happens to be a flashback of the story of the original, A Christmas Story film.

This movie brought back all of the nostalgia and I was really interested to see it after watching the trailer a few weeks ago. It has been out on HBO Max for about 3 weeks now, but prior to watching it, I didn’t read any reviews. I wanted to watch it blindly and I’m glad I did. I really enjoyed it. Was it as good as the original? No, but it was a very good sequel. They did a great job of balancing the nostalgia of the original film and making a new unique film. There were some neat callbacks to the original, but it wasn’t overdone.

What really impressed me was the return of most of the original characters. In a sequel like this, nostalgia is key and seeing Ralphie, Schwartz, Flick, Farkus, Randy, and Grover all reprise their roles in this film were great to see. The story was set 33 years into the future of the original, but in reality, it has been 39 years since the first film. The twist of Ralph becoming a writer, Randy becoming a business mogul, Flick owning a bar, Schwartz still messing with Flick, and Farkus becoming a cop were all nice storyline angles. Ralph’s mother in the original wasn’t the same as this one. She was the only actor that didn’t return from the original. That definitely isn't a big deal because it is understandable. Melinda Dillon was originally Ralphie’s mother, but she retired from acting back in 2007, so she wasn’t an option. In this film, Julie Hagerty played Ralph’s mom. You probably recognize her from the movie Airplane!. All of the original characters are most known for their roles in A Christmas Story.

The original was a bit on the brash side, but it doesn’t cross the line of not being a family film. This adaptation is milder and much more in touch with an emotional storyline rather than a Ralphie’s narration of a past Christmas. I like that it is unique in that way, because the brash humor of the 80s is no longer similar to what it would be today.

With all of this being said, is this worthy of watching? Absolutely, but I think you need to at least be familiar with the original film. I think you will probably agree that it isn't at the level of the original, but it isn't too far off. The film honestly exceeded my expectations. I don’t anticipate this version being aired for 24 hours straight on Christmas Day every year, but it definitely is worthy of being in the Christmas rotation this year and other years to come.

GRADE: 4.25/5

Yacs

Movie Review: A Christmas Story Christmas