Top 5 Must-Watch Holiday Movies
My holiday season isn’t complete without sitting down and watching a set of movies which I think are the best Christmas movies of all time. Each one offers a little something different. These movies are, for me, true classics— movies that I have no problem watching year after year. There are lines from each film that I’ve memorized by heart. I’ll lead each movie’s introduction with one such line. :)
“Slipper socks! Medium!” The Ref
I’m starting my list with The Ref because this is the first movie we watch every holiday season. Because so few people I know have actually seen it, yet it is so good, I think it must have a cult following. In fact, it did not earn much in Box Office sales and yet, it was critically acclaimed, so there you go. The Ref was released in 1994— directed by Ted Demme, and stars Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spacey (before he made, ummm, headlines.)
It’s somewhat of a challenge to describe The Ref. It’s a very sarcastic and quick-witted storyline filled with some dark-ish comedy. As the back of the movie jacket states, “Leary plays an unfortunate cat burglar who becomes trapped in a fate worse than jail when he takes a bickering couple hostage.”
There is also a lot of “Christmas” in The Ref, from the music to the set decorations, and even some of the storyline itself when Caroline prepares a traditional Scandinavian feast, including the telling of the lore of St. Lucia. There is also a lot of very humorous and relatable family dysfunction.
Additionally, the supporting cast is just as entertaining as the main characters themselves. A favorite of mine is sister-in-law Connie, played by Christine Baranski. She has an uptight New England sensibility mixed with a caustic dry-humor that gets expressed when she says lines like, “Shut up and don’t annoy me. It’s Christmas!” Throw in a scene where Santa has too much punched up Egg Nog and tells a neighbor kid he can’t drink any more milk because “Santa is lactose intolerant and no one wants to see Santa farting down everyone's chimneys.”
If you are in the mood for a little something different this holiday season, I highly suggest you find some way to watch The Ref.
“No one is walking out on this fun old fashioned family Christmas!” National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Next on the list is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase. If you are familiar at all with the National Lampoon film series-- European Vacation, Summer Vacation, Vegas Vacation— then you know the Griswold family mayhem and hijinks pretty well. I happen to think that Christmas Vacation is the best of them all.
The movie’s centerpiece is, of course, Clark Griswold, the earnest mid-west father, working hard to provide for his typical suburban family and everything that comes with that life. Clark has such Norman Rockwell hopes for this Christmas with his family. As his wife Ellen (actress Beverly DeAngelo) points out near the beginning of the movie, “Oh Sparky, you always have such high expectations for Christmas.” Those aspirations, however, are quickly buried under a snow pile when his trailer-dwelling, shall we say, less-than-middle-class brother-in-law Eddie, and his family make a surprise visit. Complete with their dog, Snots, in tow.
Christmas Vacation was released in 1989 and was written by John Hughes, who based it on “Christmas ‘59,” his short story published in National Lampoon. Hughes, you might remember, was in his heyday at that time, writing such films as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and The Breakfast Club. He also wrote the Home Alone series, but more on that movie in a minute. Part of what I love about Christmas Vacation is the nuclear family nostalgia of the 80s. This was a time before the internet, cell phones, social media, etc. You basically had two choices then: Sit in your room and read a book or listen to music (on a cassette tape, record, or the radio), or sit with your family in the living room, watching television that offered 13 stations, or maybe 30, if you were spoiled and had cable. The choices were suffocating and binary. But deep down in places you never wanted to admit, you knew you wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Ahhh, a large cheese pizza all for me.” Home Alone
Next on my must-watch holiday movie fest is Home Alone. It wouldn’t be Christmas without watching it at least once. I remember watching Home Alone with my Grandma Harriet. I’ll never forget how some scenes made her laugh so much that tears streamed down her cheeks. I think that is what the magic of movies is sometimes. They re-connect you to a really special moment in time.
In case you are not familiar with the plot of Home Alone, it’s the story of how 8-year-old Kevin McCallister accidentally gets left, wait for it: home alone. After fighting with his family the night before they were to all board a flight to Paris for vacation, Kevin wishes he had no family and lived alone. When his “wish” comes true the next day, he is initially overjoyed by his newfound freedom, and binges on junk food and orders pizza just for himself.
However, when he realizes that his house is the next one on the block targeted to be robbed by The Wet Bandits, Harry, and Marv, Kevin constructs a string of physically comedic booby traps throughout his house to catch the robber in their tracks.
Home Alone was released in November 1990. It was directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. Hughes said he conceived of the story while preparing to go on a family vacation himself. Set in Chicago, principal filming was done there on location from February to May of that year.
Home Alone received positive reviews, with praise for its cast, humor, and music. It grossed $476.7 million worldwide and made Culkin a child star. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Culkin, and for the Academy Award for Best Original Score for John Williams, and Best Original Song for “Somewhere in My Memory.”
If music were a character, it would be right up there in the spotlight with Culkin as far as I’m concerned. The song selection, timing, and tempo help make this movie storyline a success. I think John Williams delivered his best work, as he does most of his movie scores.
As for how the story ends, well, without giving too much away, it does have a happy ending. Yet, it still gets me teary every time I see it. If you can’t just get enough of Home Alone, Hollywood delivered: There is an excellent sequel (and you can't say that about all sequels) called Home Alone 2, Lost in New York.
“I'm Just A Cotton Headed Ninny Muggins!” Elf
I have to be honest and say that Andrew introduced me to Elf. I don’t think I’d seen it all the way through before we got together. I enjoy it more every holiday we watch it. Maybe part of it has to do with my own love affair with sugary treats. Just sayin’
Elf is the story of Buddy the Elf, played by Will Ferrell, who goes to New York City searching for his biological father after being told by his North Pole family that he was adopted. If you are familiar with Ferrell’s acting style at all, then you know how successful he is at capturing the innocence and youthfulness of being a kid trapped inside of an adult’s body. Kind of how Tom Hanks did so with his character in the movie Big.
Of course, hijinks ensue as Buddy learns to live in a non-elf world and in New York City at that. We see Buddy learn how to use escalators, elevators and enjoy what he assumes very literally is, as advertised, “the best cup of coffee” ever in a Manhattan coffee shop. Over the course of the movie, he finds his father, endears himself to his father’s wife and son, falls in love with a co-worker he meets while working at Gimbel's Department Store, and re-unites with Santa on Christmas Eve to help save Christmas by inspiring and spreading the Christmas Spirit.
Elf was released in the United States on November 7, 2003, and became a major critical and commercial success, grossing $220 million worldwide. Ferrell’s performance as Buddy the Elf was praised by critics and audiences alike, with many calling it one of his best performances. It is often listed among the greatest Christmas films of all time, and I have to agree.
“My dear partner, when what’s left of you gets around to what’s left to be gotten, what’s left to be gotten won’t be worth getting, whatever it is you’ve got left." White Christmas
Christmas just can't be official in the Yarborough house unless we have watched White Christmas. Andrew has watched this movie every holiday since he was a kid. Given my love of Christmas, he was shocked when I told him I had never seen it. Even though we always had a festive holiday house, my family wasn't much of a movie-watching family. In fact, I can’t remember us kids ever sitting down and watching a movie all the way through with our parents. There was one Easter when we watched the musical film Oklahoma. But the only reason I remember that is because it was such a rare occasion. So the fact that my parents or grandparents never introduced me to it, I wasn’t apt to know of it. Given that White Christmas was originally released in 1954, it wasn't like it was high on my kid must-watch movie list.
The truth is, I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as a kid as I do as an adult. White Christmas tells the story of two Broadway performers, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, played by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in post World War II America. After finding national success with their touring variety show “Playing Around,” they team up with the Haynes Sisters, played by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. Together, the four go to Vermont to perform a holiday variety show at a ski chalet that has fallen on hard times. The chalet is owned by their highly respected former army general, who they served with during the war. Of course, romance blossoms and the chalet is saved, but not without overcoming the nosey interference of the chalet's housekeeper, Emma.
White Christmas is one of my favorite holiday movies for a few reasons. I think that the acting is excellent and the story is pretty great, but it is really the dancing that steals the show. It blows shows like Dancing with the Stars out of the water. The dancing sequences are very impressive, with no special effects or multiple takes. The choreography is so intricate it is entertaining all on its own. I see something new every time I watch it.
White Christmas features the songs of Irving Berlin, including a new version of the title song, “White Christmas,” introduced by Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn. It was enormously popular with audiences, earning $12 million in theatrical rentals – equal to $116 million in 2020 – making it the top moneymaker of 1954 by a wide margin and the highest-grossing musical at the time. Overall, the film grossed $30 million at the domestic box office, and there was a US theatrical re-release by Paramount in 1961.
So that rounds out my Top 5 holiday movie recommendations. I’d really love to read in the comments below what movies you enjoy watching during the holidays. Our Christmas movie collection does include more movies like A Christmas Story, The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, (and a new addition) Bad Mom’s Christmas. We've already watched The Ref. Up next, probably this weekend, we will watch Home Alone, and then after that will be National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
Happy Holidays!
