A Christmas Story Christmas

A Christmas Story Christmas

Ralphie is now all grown up and must deal with Christmas and all that comes with it…as a dad.

  • Released: 2022-11-17
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Comedy, Family
  • Stars: Peter Billingsley, Erinn Hayes, Zack Ward, Julie Hagerty, Mark Arnold, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Julianna Layne, Ian Petrella, River Drosche, J.R. Esposito, Chris Jarman, Sam Parks, Henry Miller, Ian Porter, Owen Davis, Derek Morse, Davis Murphy
  • Director: Clay Kaytis
 Comments
  • IceCream-57 - 27 December 2023
    A Christmas Story Christmas
    I will be the first to admit that this is not the best Christmas story in the world. It was good to see the original main character come back. This time Ralphie had his own family and his own set of issues. As he prepares for the holidays, his father passes away which was the rock of the family for Christmas and all Christmas planning. Ralphie is not exactly doing well outside of this issue either. His is trying to become a writer, but he is not successful at all. He travels back home to see his mom for the holidays and he runs into some of his old friends. It's a good movie just different. I would recommend.
  • ophelia_brock - 17 December 2023
    Not a bad idea, incompetent execution.
    I actually don't hate the conceit of this clear cash grab of a sequel. I liked the set up- Ralphie now grown and married with kids, coming back home after his father dies over the holidays.

    They tie up the sequel bait with reminiscing on his recently passed father, which isn't bad. It includes the characters on this nostalgia bait ride and makes it a little more sincere, commemorating clips of actually deceased actors from the original film.

    It isn't a bad idea, but how this movie gets it across is where it entirely fails.

    There's the technical stuff, all immediately clear. Poor direction, hammy acting, surprisingly bad dialogue for how easy the internal monologue shtick seems to me.

    It didn't grow up whatsoever, so Ralphie's constant monologue sounds like an old guy passionately reciting some little boy's thoughts rather than his own. It's funny and cute to see a little kid full heartedly believe in cartoonish little kid logic about the world.

    Making an adult version of that could still be funny, but they don't even try.

    The inclusion of the kids I liked. Cheesy hyper-nostalgia about old Christmas memories is a pretty natural thing to tell your young kids about. The writing hardly did them justice, but the child actors did their best with their lines.

    Anyway, complaining about production quality is silly, this movie doesn't promise to be anything more than it is.

    The weird part is that for all that this is a vehicle for shoving nostalgia down our throats, it hardly uses anything besides some of the bigger Ralph moments and EVERYTHING about the dad.

    You'd think the first movie was ABOUT the dad, with maybe two minutes of Ralph and friend shenanigans and that's it. Soooo much abject hero worship about the "old man", sooooooo much reminiscing on how he made it "the greatest Christmas ever".

    And Is this nostalgia even nostalgia for the Christmas story? Does anyone remember it this way?

    The sweetest and most heartfelt moments from that movie were with Ralph and his mother, in fact both of his parents had roughly equal screen time in my recollection.

    And the charm of the father was how silly and contentious he was, a child's image of a grumpy father.

    I remember him complaining and being pretty unenthusiastic about Christmas Day? Which was funny, but not exactly the patriarch of Christmas magic.

    I don't want to sound like my one complaint is the lack of abject hero worship of both the dad AND the mom, it was just weird to feel like this abject hero worship that soaks 85% of this movie was misremembering the characters it worshipped.

    The mom was the festive character who played it up for her kids, also her actress is dead as well? Why this sappy love letter for only the dad, I'm serious, this is a serious question.

    It was so SO much of the movie I'm genuinely not sure if I just wound up in a demographic this wasn't meant for. Is there a huge nostalgic market for only the father?? Was the actor a much bigger deal?
  • drewvogelaar - 24 January 2023
    A Fun Remake of a Christmas Classic
    Hollywood has had a fascination with the 80s in recent years. Taking ideas from the 80s and putting them into films is nothing new. The Karate Kid (2010), Friday the 13th (2009), 21 Jump Street (2012), and the A Team (2010) are all prime examples of how the 80s have been a staple of Hollywood. Shows like Stranger Things, the Goldbergs, and Cobra Kai have made the 80s now one of the biggest markets in Hollywood. It's easy to explain why people love these properties so much; nostalgia. A Christmas Story Christmas is precisely that, nostalgia for something beloved by millions of people every Christmas season.

    I disliked this film the first time I tried watching it. I made it through about the first twenty minutes and turned it off because I was underwhelmed. My rule for watching movies is great or terrible; I finish it no matter what. I'm glad I abide by that rule since I enjoyed this much more upon a second viewing. I love that the original cast decided to reprise their roles for this film. I am sad Melinda Dillon, unfortunately, did not reprise her role as Mrs. Parker, but Julie Hagerty of airplane fame takes over the role with lots of energy and cheerfulness. The story is simple Ralphie's father (The Old Man) passes away, and he returns home to deliver his family a memorable Christmas. I enjoy just how nostalgic everything feels. The town, the setting, and the old characters make you so giddy. Sometimes when you take old actors from a franchise, they are stiff since they were played by a very amateur cast. In this case, the acting is surprisingly good. I'd point to the scene with Farkus as one of my favorites. It is one of the better-made Christmas movies over the past few years. So why only a 6. It sounds petty, but I enjoy the original so much more. Nothing against this film, but 10/10 I'd watch the original.

    6.5/10 An homage to a Christmas classic that can be enjoyed by both fans and newcomers.
  • gbill-74877 - 31 December 2022
    In a word, awful
    As much as I love the original film, this sequel, catching us up to Ralphie in middle-aged and with a family of his own, is terrible. It's sorely, sorely missing the writing of Jean Shepherd (book and screenplay), and possesses very little charm, or even cohesion. The film tries find its way into comedy, sentimentality, and serious reflection on Ralphie's dad who has recently passed away, and falls short in every category. The subplot with Ralphie trying to get his book published is tedious, the drunken adults slamming into objects while sledding is cruel, and the way clips from the first film are integrated is artless to a comical degree.

    Everything revolves around Ralphie, with lip service paid to grieving for his dad (the tone for which is way off), and nothing meaningful happening with the characters of his wife, mother, or children. Peter Billingsley running around a mall at age 51 looking like Barney Rubble, fielding calls from publishers, or breaking into his old buddy Flick's bar is just not compelling, especially when compared to him at 12, with memories of childhood trials and tribulations. It was interesting to see some of these actors 39 years later but the script and the way this was put together was awful. Even the title is awful. Everything is awful.
  • elizrug - 26 December 2022
    Absolutely perfect
    I was scared it would be dumb and trying to fit in with movies nowadays with lame attempts at humor but it was perfect.

    I laughed the whole way through.

    My family and I started watching with skepticism and it disappeared immediately.

    The mother character was amazing, and it was good seeing the old gang and new ones. So many scenes are perfectly redone like in the first but instead of being trite the scenes fit.

    We all loved it, especially after some very hard times wondering if we were going to even have Christmas. It was what we all needed and will now be a new favorite along with the original.
  • frankiecampbell2 - 25 December 2022
    Ok, but NOT going on our annual holiday MUST WATCH list
    Christmas Story Christmas was fun to watch, but so many times throughout the movie there were repeats of the "same ole' tricks" from the original Christmas Story. There were a lot of repeat gags that were done in the original, or were done in other Christmas movies. If one thing could be said about this film, it is a summary of all the other Christmas movies that have been done. The only gag that was somewhat original, was the recreation attempt at the 1970s, which only lasted for the first 30 minutes of the film.

    It was good to see all the old actors again, but this just doesn't have the originality of all the other Christmas movies out there...and there are A LOT OF OTHER CHRISTMAS MOVIES already. There were also some glaring plot holes and just stupid un-relatable things Ralphie did like breaking into Flick's bar. Who in their right mind would do that??? But then he was arrested and they left his car at the bar after Scott dropped him off. Ummm...how does that resolve? And that whole scene looks like it was cut short somehow. I can't help but wonder if that scene was cut short due to the movie length and there was more to that police scene in the directors cut. Regardless, it felt unresolved and forced.

    There was also all the day dreaming scenes. Most kids daydream like Ralphie does in the original, which is what made the original so enchanting. But most normal people outgrow that as they age. When a very matured adult does it, you wonder if something is wrong with them.

    Overall, the movie tried but it's not a new classic by any means. It wasn't a bad film, but with so many others to watch now, there's only so much time and this one certainly won't make the annual must-see list.
  • d_penn - 25 December 2022
    Nostalgia is FRAG-I-LE as the midwestern soufflé
    I need to start off by saying I do not recommend Christmas Story as it's overrated as hell. Unpopular opinion but that's why it's my review and not yours ;). As being a born Hoosier I absolutely loved this movie. Well love is a stretch but a better movie then the original which you really don't get this day and age much Anymore. Acting was okay. A mild 5. The writing and screenplay was decent. I love how they brought back some characters from the first one.

    **This movie also told me about the "midwestern soufffle." Which is when when you crack an egg into your vehicles radiator to temporarily stop coolant leaks.
  • classicrun-44914 - 23 December 2022
    Missing Jean Shepherd
    I first encountered the humor of Jean Shepherd and the "Parker" family in his book in God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. What I loved about the original, is exactly what many people hate it - Shepherd's narration. If you take his voice out of the original movie, it's cute but doesn't really hold together. No matter how hard they tried to make this sequel work, they didn't have Jean Shepherd. And of course, the old man had died, as a character and as an actor. Ralphie was cute in the original but oh how I loved the adults - mom, dad, the teacher and of course the 1940s setting. Yes it was my childhood on the screen and somehow the sequel just doesn't pull it off.
  • DarkVulcan29 - 19 December 2022
    The sequel we have been wanting is finally here.
    I know there have been other sequels to A Christmas Story(1983), but this one is the best, cause the original actors from the first film reprise there roles, Peter Billingsly is back as Ralphie, it's 1973 and Ralph is a husband and father, and also a writer trying to get published with very little luck. Gets the news that his father has passed away, decides to go back to his hometown, and also tries to make it good Christmas for his family.

    It was nice the actors come back has the characters from the original, the exception of Melinda Dillion has the mother from the original, who since retired from acting and had no interest in reprising her role, make way for Julie Hagerty has the mother, my only real complaint is the way Dillion played it in the original, is different the way Hagerty plays it, not that Hagerty is bad, just not the same. But the movie is good, some call backs, but the sequel stands on it's own. And Billingsly is joy to watch has Ralphie now.
  • bmelvin-32096 - 14 December 2022
    Remake/Sequel well done!
    I absolutely loved the original version of this movie. As a kid growing up, I would eagerly look forward to watching the original every Christmas season. I remember some years back, one of the TV stations would have a Christmas in July series and would play this movie and I loved it! This sequel or remake of sorts was fantastic! It was wonderful to see all of the original characters now as adults. I admittedly thought that this remake/sequel would be cheesy, but they did not disappoint! Ralphy's all grown up & still has his little lisp, lol. The storyline was great, and the ending was fantastic! It brought tears to my eyes. I am glad they did this!