A Christmas Story
by Bob Clark
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Actor: Colin Fox, Leslie Carlson, Melinda Dillon, Peter Billingsley, Yano AnayaDirector: Bob Clark
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 94 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-09-26
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Warner Home Video
DVD Reviews of A Christmas Story
DVD Review: The worst Christmas movie ever
Summary: 1 Stars
Two Decembers ago, my colleagues and I were discussing Christmas movies over lunch. They were dumbstruck to learn that I had never seen "A Christmas Story." One offered to buy me the video. Then last month, a friend mentioned that a cable station would be showing back-to-back episodes on Christmas eve. So I watched it.
It was the worst Christmas movie I had ever laid eyes on. Why would anyone desecrate Christmas with a tale of a vulgar father, a pathetic mother, and ordinary children, all living in a dilapidated home in a bedraggled neighborhood, overrun by obnoxious kids, and highlighted by an insipid teacher, a callow Santa Claus, and truculent elves?
For the humor, of course! But the movie is humorless, the cast awful, and the story painfully long and pointless.
The sine qua non of Christmas movies has always been a central message --some nugget of hope, or redemption, or love -- conveyed either seriously or humorously. This movie, having none of these, illustrates the extent to which postmodern cynicism has swallowed a beloved film genre. Good Christmas movies have universal appeal. Can anyone imagine this movie being seen outside the U.S.? I can't, unless there's a place where train wrecks are "cute" and reminisced upon with wistful nostalgia.
Steve
P.S. After posting the above review, I received a barrage of criticism. One thoughtful critic argued, correctly, that my review lacked specificity and perspective. And so I submit this addendum:
My disappointment with the movie centers on four themes: the behavior of most characters, the absence of redemption, the absence of universality, and the absence of a transcendent message.
Regarding the characters, I was especially disturbed by the parents. We are told that the father curses incessantly (though we do not hear his invectives). His fascination with the ugly lamp is bizarre and sophomoric; his rawness, disconcerting. He is not alcoholic or physically abusive, but these are the only elements missing from a caricature too often seen. The mother's obsequious relationship with her husband, which renders her unable, or unwilling, to express her distaste for the "award", presumably out of fear of verbal reprisal, is unnerving. (I can already hear the chorus of detractors saying her restraint stems from affection).
Of course, each of us brings to a movie his personal experience. I have practiced medicine for thirteen years, and I cannot count the times I've encountered women who became withdrawn and depressed after years of quiet deference to overbearing men. Just the hint of such a relationship makes me recoil.
By contrast, the children are endearing. But this is less a credit to the movie than a tribute to the general sweetness of youth. The children are not selfish, as some have suggested. (A child's wish for a gift and his joy in receiving it are natural. Having owned a BB gun myself, the experience is familiar). But as one reviewer states, every character above the age of 30 is scary. Two hours spent in a town overpopulated with beastly elves, bullies, and parents, is two hours lost.
Second, I was saddened by the lack of redemption. Ask yourself this: Is any character improved by his experience? Imagine a Scrooge unchanged by his momentous journey. Imagine a Lear unenlightened by his travails. The hallmark of a great Christmas story --- of any great story --- is the transformative experience. From this emanates the hope and magic of Christmas.
Third, the movie lacks universality. No one understood universality better than Shakespeare. His comedies are as funny today (in Indiana and India) as they were centuries ago. We relate to the plight of kings and paupers, without ourselves being kings or paupers, because their sufferings, joys, and longings, are our own, no matter the century or country. "A Christmas Story," by contrast, is parochial. The vignettes are amusing only to those with similar experiences. Parochialism is not, of itself, detrimental, but it does preclude the designation, "classic."
Finally, I was distraught by the absence of a transcendent message. One detractor explains that several messages are evident: listen to your parents, stand up to bullies, don't trust commercials, etc. But these are practical lessons, not universal themes rising to such heights as George Bailey, the Ghost of Christmas Past, or even Linus, have taken us.
So my detractors close in for the kill: Isn't "realism" better than the canned moralizing of standard classics?
If what we seek is realism, why not call this movie "A Birthday Story" instead of "A Christmas Story?" Had Ralphie requested a BB Gun for his birthday, his creators would have been spared the Christmas burden, the expectation of something ennobling --- hope, love, kindness, forgiveness, sympathy --- something that surmounts the mundane and takes us, if only briefly, to a finer place. In my humble view, Hammond, Indiana, is not such a place.
Description of A Christmas Story
IN A SMALL 1940'S INDIANA TOWN, NINE-YEAR-OLD RALPHIE DREAMS OF A PERFECT CHRISTMAS MORNING WITH THE ULTIMATE GIFT, A GENUINE RED RYDER AIR RIFLE GUN. BUT WHEN HIS MOTHER CONSTANTLY RESPONDS WITH YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT RALPHIE MUST PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS TO GET HIS DREAM PRESENT.Bestsellers in DVD
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