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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation poster

Movies that feel likeNational Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

It's Christmastime, and the Griswolds are preparing for a family seasonal celebration. But things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's continual bad luck is worsened by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to keep going, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.

If you loved National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the closest films we have are Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), French Fried Vacation 2 (1979) and Clockwise (1986). All three share National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Real Life (1979).

🍅 72% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jeremiah S. Chechikwittyplayful
9 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

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See it on the Mood Map

If National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation hit the spot, these will too

Planes, Trains and Automobiles poster
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
1987 · dir. John Hughes
🍅 93%★ 7.6comedyParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: holiday

An irritable marketing executive, Neal Page, is heading home to Chicago for Thanksgiving when a number of delays force him to travel with a well meaning but overbearing shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith.

French Fried Vacation 2 poster
French Fried Vacation 2
1979 · dir. Patrice Leconte
★ 7.4comedy

Both land wit and play at once

In this sequel to Les Bronzes (1978) summer has passed, but that doesn't mean the fun has to end for Bernard, Nathalie, Gigi, Jerome, Popeye, Jean-Claude, and Christiane.

Clockwise poster
Clockwise
1986 · dir. Christopher Morahan
🍅 83%★ 6.6comedy

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

School headmaster Brian Stimpson is obsessed with timeliness, order, and discipline. Brian misses his train after meticulously preparing a speech for an education conference. With no one else to turn to, he asks young former student Laura Wisely for a ride. Laura, upset over a break-up, agrees to drive him in her parents' car - which alarms her mother and father, who worry that she has run away with a married man and subsequently alert the police.

The Dinner Game poster
The Dinner Game
1998 · dir. Francis Veber
🍅 73%★ 7.6comedy

Both lean on play more than on comedy

For Pierre Brochant and his friends, Wednesday is “Idiots' Day”. The idea is simple: each person has to bring along an idiot. The one who brings the most spectacular idiot wins the prize. Tonight, Brochant is ecstatic. He has found a gem. The ultimate idiot, “A world champion idiot!”. What Brochant doesn’t know is that Pignon is a real jinx, a past master in the art of bringing on catastrophes...

Best in Show poster
Best in Show
2000 · dir. Christopher Guest
🍅 93%★ 7.5comedyParamount+

Witty comedy in both cases

The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them.

Animal House poster
Animal House
1978 · dir. John Landis
🍅 89%★ 7.4comedy

The shared currency is play

At a 1962 College, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.

Robin Hood: Men in Tights poster
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
1993 · dir. Mel Brooks
🍅 42%★ 6.7comedy

Both working the same comedy territory

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

Robin Hood comes home after fighting in the Crusades to learn that the noble King Richard is in exile and that the despotic King John now rules England, with the help of the Sheriff of Rottingham. Robin Hood assembles a band of fellow patriots to do battle with King John and the Sheriff.

Twins poster
Twins
1988 · dir. Ivan Reitman
🍅 44%★ 6.2comedy

Both play comedy straight

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.

Kindergarten Cop poster
Kindergarten Cop
1990 · dir. Ivan Reitman
🍅 54%★ 6.3comedy

Comedy in the same key

Hard-edged cop John Kimble gets more than he bargained for when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher to get the goods on a brutal drug lord while at the same time protecting the man's young son. Pitted against a class of boisterous moppets whose antics try his patience and test his mettle, Kimble may have met his match … in more ways than one.

Four Rooms poster
Four Rooms
1995 · dir. Robert Rodriguez
🍅 13%★ 6.7comedy

Both know what they want from comedy

It's Ted the Bellhop's first night on the job...and the hotel's very unusual guests are about to place him in some outrageous predicaments. It seems that this evening's room service is serving up one unbelievable happening after another.

Real Life poster
Real Life
1979 · dir. Albert Brooks
🍅 84%★ 7comedyRent or buy

Comedy approached the same way

A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

Used Cars poster
Used Cars
1980 · dir. Robert Zemeckis
🍅 77%★ 6.7comedyPrime Video

Cut from the same comedy cloth

When the owner of a struggling used car lot is killed, it's up to the lot's hot-shot salesman to save the property from falling into the hands of the owner's ruthless brother and used-car rival.

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The best-reviewed films that share National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation’s defining feeling.