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The Daily OrangeNational Lampoon's Thanksgiving special falls short
By Christopher Reilly
Posted: 11/21/03, 3:06 AM EST Section: Feature
If your idea of a Thanksgiving feast includes dried-out turkey, cold mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce straight out of the can, then you might find something to chuckle at in "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion," a film starving for laughs.
With a title and premise designed to remind viewers of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," this made-for-TV movie - set to debut on TBS this Sunday - is a disgrace to the memory of that holiday classic. "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion" fails to entertain on every level. The story reeks of unoriginality, the laughs are nonexistent and the actors might as well be cardboard cutouts posed in each scene.
Judge Reinhold ("The Santa Clause") stars as the Chevy Chase of "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion," mild-mannered anesthesiologist and family man Mitch Snider. Like Clark Griswold before him, all Mitch wants is for his family to have an old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner. Too bad his spoiled wife Jill (Hallie Todd, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie") and their bratty kids Allison (Meghan Ory) and Danny (Calum Worthy) have no interest in family togetherness.
So when Mitch receives a letter from his long-lost cousin Woodward Sider (Bryan Cranston, TV's "Malcolm in the Middle"), he packs up the family and drives to their homestead in Idaho. But to Mitch's horror, Cousin Woodward turns out to be a lot like "Christmas Vacation"'s Cousin Eddie. An aging hippie, Woodward lives in a broken-down house with his new-age wife, Pauline, (Penelope Anne Miller, "Kindergarten Cop") and their two equally quirky children. The families couldn't be any different, so cultures clash and hilarity ensues. At least, it's supposed to.
The plot oozes with predictability. Even before the Snider families meet, you know that, by film's end, the free-spirited Woodward and his family will help loosen up Mitch and his uptight clan. Some scenes were even lifted straight out of "Christmas Vacation." And it only gets more ludicrous as it goes along. The two teenage girls bond after wrestling in the mud (with clothes on, unfortunately). Mitch and his wife rekindle their passion by donning wigs. And at one point, Dr. Mitch performs a delicate medical procedure using a nail file and a windshield wiper tube. It's not only unrealistic, it's extremely unfunny stuff.
The film's cast does little to redeem the script. Reinhold is no Chevy Chase, and he sleepwalks his way through his part with barely any emotion. As the script calls for Mitch to get more and more aggravated by his cousin's wacky antics, Reinhold strains to appear angry, but comes off as merely blustered. Cranston, meanwhile, really disappoints, since he is so consistently hilarious on "Malcolm in the Middle." Hair extensions and day-glo shirts do little to help make his character any more of a laugh riot. As the cousins' respective wives, Miller and Todd give decent but unmemorable performances.
"National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion," with its half-baked plot riddled with clichés and a cast of dead wood, isn't worth getting up from the dinner table early.
Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreilly@syr.edu.
With a title and premise designed to remind viewers of "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," this made-for-TV movie - set to debut on TBS this Sunday - is a disgrace to the memory of that holiday classic. "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion" fails to entertain on every level. The story reeks of unoriginality, the laughs are nonexistent and the actors might as well be cardboard cutouts posed in each scene.
Judge Reinhold ("The Santa Clause") stars as the Chevy Chase of "National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion," mild-mannered anesthesiologist and family man Mitch Snider. Like Clark Griswold before him, all Mitch wants is for his family to have an old-fashioned Thanksgiving dinner. Too bad his spoiled wife Jill (Hallie Todd, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie") and their bratty kids Allison (Meghan Ory) and Danny (Calum Worthy) have no interest in family togetherness.
So when Mitch receives a letter from his long-lost cousin Woodward Sider (Bryan Cranston, TV's "Malcolm in the Middle"), he packs up the family and drives to their homestead in Idaho. But to Mitch's horror, Cousin Woodward turns out to be a lot like "Christmas Vacation"'s Cousin Eddie. An aging hippie, Woodward lives in a broken-down house with his new-age wife, Pauline, (Penelope Anne Miller, "Kindergarten Cop") and their two equally quirky children. The families couldn't be any different, so cultures clash and hilarity ensues. At least, it's supposed to.
The plot oozes with predictability. Even before the Snider families meet, you know that, by film's end, the free-spirited Woodward and his family will help loosen up Mitch and his uptight clan. Some scenes were even lifted straight out of "Christmas Vacation." And it only gets more ludicrous as it goes along. The two teenage girls bond after wrestling in the mud (with clothes on, unfortunately). Mitch and his wife rekindle their passion by donning wigs. And at one point, Dr. Mitch performs a delicate medical procedure using a nail file and a windshield wiper tube. It's not only unrealistic, it's extremely unfunny stuff.
The film's cast does little to redeem the script. Reinhold is no Chevy Chase, and he sleepwalks his way through his part with barely any emotion. As the script calls for Mitch to get more and more aggravated by his cousin's wacky antics, Reinhold strains to appear angry, but comes off as merely blustered. Cranston, meanwhile, really disappoints, since he is so consistently hilarious on "Malcolm in the Middle." Hair extensions and day-glo shirts do little to help make his character any more of a laugh riot. As the cousins' respective wives, Miller and Todd give decent but unmemorable performances.
"National Lampoon's Thanksgiving Reunion," with its half-baked plot riddled with clichés and a cast of dead wood, isn't worth getting up from the dinner table early.
Christopher Reilly is a senior magazine major. His reviews appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at cgreilly@syr.edu.
