Directed by: Clay Kaytis
Starring: Peter Billingsley, Ian Petrella, Julie Hagerty, Erinn Hayes, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Zack Ward
A Christmas Story Christmas is the direct sequel to the 1983 classic A Christmas Story and it aims its sights on nostalgia and sentimentality. It succeeds at delivering both, albeit nearly forty years after the original's release. A Christmas Story Christmas naturally can't match the original in terms of charm and legacy, but it's still fun to see Ralphie Parker (Billingsley) visit his childhood home on Cleveland Street around Christmas time 1973 in order to mourn the loss of his father and console his mother (Hagerty-replacing Melinda Dillon from the original film). There is no funeral for the father for the week or so in which the movie takes place, but that's because mother only wants the focus to be on Christmas and not the funeral. Fair enough, if not wholly realistic. Where's the father's body being stored while the Parkers are celebrating Christmas?
As A Christmas Story Christmas opens, Ralphie is struggling to sell the science fiction novel he wrote. He took a year off from work to write the novel and if he doesn't sell it by his self-imposed December 31 deadline, he promises his patient, loving wife Sandy (Hayes) he will find a job. Then, the phone rings and his mother breaks the news of The Old Man's passing (Darren McGavin actually died in 2006, but the film strings together clips of him in the original film to produce a sweet tribute). Ralphie meets up with old pals Flick (Schwartz) and Schwartz (Robb), now a bar owner and his most prolific customer respectively. If you think they've abandoned their childhood antics of upmanship, then you would be wrong. Other issues ensue, including buying a skimpy Christmas tree and other hijinks which further tests Sandy's everlasting patience.
These are hijinks of the innocent kind and in the spirit of the original film. Most of A Christmas Story Christmas is pleasant and innocuous, and we mostly care about the people in it because of the expansive goodwill set forth in A Christmas Story, plus plenty of nostalgia thrown in for good measure. We also anticipate the appearance of Ralphie's former bully (who he beat the crap out of) Scut Farkus, and the payoff is surprisingly sweet. Even with A Christmas Story director Bob Clark, McGavin, and Jean Shepherd no longer with us, A Christmas Story Christmas still delivers with a charm of its own.
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