A Christmas Story Christmas (2022) Warner Bros./Comedy-Drama RT: 98 minutes Rated PG (language, some rude material/behavior, adults drinking at a bar) Director: Clay Kaytis Screenplay: Nick Schenk and Clay Kaytis Music: Jeff Morrow Cinematography: Matthew Clark Release date: November 17, 2022 (US) Cast: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes, Julie Hagerty, River Drosche, Julianna Layne, Scott Schwartz, R.R. Robb, Ian Petrella, Zack Ward, Davis Murphy, Henry Miller, Cailean Galloway, Alistair Galloway. Box Office: N/A
Rating: *** ½
A “legacy sequel” is defined on Wikipedia as “a work that follows the continuity of the original, but takes place much further along the timeline.” It goes on to explain that they’re “often made many years after the original works were made.” We’ve seen several over the past few years: Top Gun: Maverick, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Blade Runner 2049, Coming 2 America and Ghostbusters: Afterlife to name but a few.
You can add A Christmas Story Christmas to that list. I had no reason to think it would be any good. The last time somebody tried to make a sequel to the Bob Clark holiday classic, we got A Christmas Story 2, a sequel so abysmal it went straight to DVD. I watched it only once (in 2012) and won’t ever make that mistake again.
I started feeling better about A Christmas Story Christmas when I heard most of the original cast (i.e. the kids) would be returning. Darren McGavin (“The Old Man”) died in 2006. Melinda Dillon (Mom) was too ill. She died just a few months after this movie’s release. Tedde Moore declined to reprise her role as teacher Miss Shields. The rest of the old gang is back for this follow-up. It’s great seeing them all back in action again. Even better, it’s actually a good movie.
Directed by Clay Kaytis (The Christmas Chronicles), A Christmas Story Christmas is similarly steeped in nostalgia. It takes place in 1973 where we find Ralph Parker (Billingsley) trying to make it as a writer in Chicago where lives with his wife Sandy (Hayes, Children’s Hospital) and children, Mark (Drosche) and Julie (Layne). Christmas is coming (lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas) and Ralph is preoccupied with getting his lengthy sci-fi novel published by year’s end. The problem is none of the publishers he sent it to like it.
Life takes a dramatic turn when his mother (Hagerty, Airplane!) calls with the sad news of his father’s unexpected death. This means Ralph is coming home (Hohman, IN) for the holidays. Mom asks but two things of him: (1) write his dad’s obituary for the local paper and (2) make Christmas special for the family like The Old Man did. Both tasks prove to be difficult. How is he supposed to sum up his dad’s life in a single paragraph? As for the other thing, he runs into one obstacle after another in trying to create the perfect Christmas for his family.
Thankfully, Ralph has the support of his two best friends from childhood, Flick (Schwartz) and Schwartz (Robb). Flick now runs his father’s bar where Schwartz has rung up a large tab. They may be older, but they’re not much wiser as evidenced by Flick daring Schwartz to sled down “The Ramp”, an icy death trap nobody has ever survived. Yes, it’s a triple dog dare. Think of it as payback for the frozen flagpole thing when they were kids.
A Christmas Story Christmas is more than just a solid sequel; it’s a love letter to a film loved by generations of viewers. I don’t usually discuss endings, but I think I’m going to make an exception here. Ralph writes an article about his favorite Christmas (you know the one) as a tribute to The Old Man. It gets published on the front page of the local paper. In the film’s final scene, he reads it out loud to his family. His voice gives over to Jean Shepherd’s opening narration in the original. It’s a beautiful moment that connects past and present.
I hear a lot of people complaining about legacy sequels indulging in fan service with all the callbacks to the original movie(s). That’s true to a large extent; look no further than the recent Ghostbusters films. In A Christmas Story Christmas, it feels different. Kaytis is sincere in his efforts; it shows in almost every scene. We could have done without the CGI in a few scenes- e.g. when Ralph accidentally beans his daughter in the face with a snowball- but he’s right on-point with the rest of it. BTW, it would have been funny to have Ralph’s mother say something about losing eyes to snowballs. I can’t believe Kaytis and co-writer Nick Schenk missed that one.
Maybe I’m filled with the spirit of Christmas, but I really enjoyed A Christmas Story Christmas. It completely recaptures the spirit of its predecessor without a single trace of cynicism. What we have is a father trying to make Christmas special for his children while dealing with a personal tragedy. Billingsley does a wonderful job reprising the role of Ralphie Parker. He endows the character with just the right amounts of adult worry and insecurity as he tries to make the best of a potentially disastrous situation. He still has that awesome mischievous chuckle when he pulls one over on little brother Randy (Petrella), now a world traveler who’s not sure he’ll make it home for the holidays.
You know what? I’m just going to say the entire returning cast does a great job in A Christmas Story Christmas. It’s nice seeing them all again, especially Scott Schwartz as Flick. I like how he teaches Ralph’s son how to tend bar. Zack Ward returns as childhood nemesis Scut Farkus, now a local cop. He has an encounter with Ralph at the end that turns out to be nice. Hagerty does a fine job as the mother. It turns out she has a thing about not wasting food. The family has no choice but to eat every bit of the casseroles made by well-meaning neighbors (in response to her husband’s passing) before they eat a single bite of turkey.
A Christmas Story Christmas may not be as perfect as the first film, but it comes very close. The extra half-star is for the sense of nostalgia it effectively evokes. I grew up in the 70s and I remember those Christmases. They were all great! This movie brings some of it back to me like the first movie did with our parents or grandparents. For these reasons and a few others (e.g. it’s funny!), A Christmas Story Christmas is on my yearly watch list. I watch the two films back to back. It’s a wonderful experience.
