Nov 2022
Bob Clark made his fair share of trashy movies, but he also did family movies. The original 1983 Christmas Story is pretty popular, as it should be. It's a Christmas classic, which makes it hard to top. They did a few indirect sequels I've never seen, as well as a DTV and fully-recast 2012 sequel that nobody watched, and now a real sequel. "Real" because it features the original cast, albeit with one mild recast. The mother from the original is retired, so they threw in Julie Hagerty, who was in another fun Christmas movie "Just Friends".
The 1983 film is set in either 1939 or 1940, but the 2022 flick (39 year gap) is set in 1973, only a 33 to 34 year gap. I guess they picked that number out of a hat, but it still made for some good old-fashion set pieces. It's funny to look back on the original as it never really feels like it's set in such a bygone era. The 70s don't seem so unrelatable either.
Peter Billingsly does good here, channeling the character perfectly after all these years. He's still got his silly daydreams, overthinking consequences, and sometimes devious plotting. He revisits his old Indiana home after the passing of his father, who he and everyone else in the town absolutely reveres. Darren McGavin perished in 2006, but there's no denying that he was amazing in the original movie. So in a way, he's still a big part of this movie.
The whole movie is about Ralphie trying to live up to expectations, and for the most part, it works. Never in the way he's expecting, but that is to be expected. Fortunately, the movie doesn't rely on too many callbacks to the original and is able to be its own thing. Worth at least one watch.
The 1983 film is set in either 1939 or 1940, but the 2022 flick (39 year gap) is set in 1973, only a 33 to 34 year gap. I guess they picked that number out of a hat, but it still made for some good old-fashion set pieces. It's funny to look back on the original as it never really feels like it's set in such a bygone era. The 70s don't seem so unrelatable either.
Peter Billingsly does good here, channeling the character perfectly after all these years. He's still got his silly daydreams, overthinking consequences, and sometimes devious plotting. He revisits his old Indiana home after the passing of his father, who he and everyone else in the town absolutely reveres. Darren McGavin perished in 2006, but there's no denying that he was amazing in the original movie. So in a way, he's still a big part of this movie.
The whole movie is about Ralphie trying to live up to expectations, and for the most part, it works. Never in the way he's expecting, but that is to be expected. Fortunately, the movie doesn't rely on too many callbacks to the original and is able to be its own thing. Worth at least one watch.
