Christmas Story 2 (Digital
Diva Films Canada, 2012) - Director: Brian Levant. Starring Daniel Stern,
Braeden Lemasters, and Stacey Travis.
If there’s anyone out there who hasn’t seen at
least a half hour of 1983’s A Christmas
Story, I haven’t met them. Nor do I think I ever will. The
ubiquitous film director by Bob Clark is usually broadcast 24 hours in a row on
Christmas Eve/Christmas Day by Superstation TBS.
Is there anyone in
the world who doesn’t know that Ralphie wants an Official Red Ryder Carbine-action,
200-shot Range Model Air Rifle for Christmas? Is there anyone who isn’t
afraid he’ll shoot his eye out?
A
Christmas Story is based on the
writings of Jean Shepherd, a humorist/radio host who wrote and broadcasted
about his days growing up in the 1940s in small town Indiana. Shepherd
wrote tons of stories (many appeared in Playboy)
which recounted his youth. Four books (“In God We Trust, All Others Pay
Cash,” “Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories: and Other Disasters,” “The
Ferrari in the Bedroom,” and “A Fistful of Fig Newtons”) were compiled from his
stories and A Christmas Story is put
together using several stories from his books.
In A
Christmas Story, Shepherd can be heard throughout the movie, narrating the
story. He also has a brief cameo as he directs Ralphie to the end of the
line when he shows up to see Santa.
When A
Christmas Story came out in 1983, there was no real fanfare and it didn’t
do well at the box office. It was released around Thanksgiving, but by
Christmas, it could only be found in second-run theaters. It wasn’t until
it was released on video that it took off through word of mouth.
Having said all that, it only took 19 years for
them to make the sequel. A Christmas
Story 2 was released this past week and it went straight to DVD without a
stop in the theaters. The new movie, also based on the writings of Shepherd,
finds the Parker family in the same old house some seven years
later. Ralphie is ready to turn 16, the Old Man is still battling the
furnace, Mom is still holding the family together, and little brother Randy no longer
makes pig noises at the table, but actually formulates words instead.
Ralphie is played by Braeden Lemasters, a
16-year-old who bears an uncanny resemblance to young Ralphie. Stacey Travis is
the mother, Valin Shinyei is Randy, and Flick and Schwartz (David W. Thompson
and David Huehrle) have also grown into teens. Daniel Stern (Home Alone, and a bunch more) has the
formidable task of playing The Old Man, a role made for and defined by Darren
McGavin.
The trouble with making a sequel is it will always
be judged by the original. When the original is a classic like A Christmas Story, there’s no way the
sequel is ever going to live up to the original. Maybe that’s why it took
19 years to do this one.
The movie itself is entertaining, and it has its
laugh-out-loud moments. The plot is simple enough. Ralphie is
dreaming of owning a car, an old beat up clunker at the local used car
dealer. He goes to show it to his friends Flick and Schwartz and ends up
releasing the parking brake which allows the car to roll backwards. A
Christmas decoration drops through the canvas roof of the car, leaving Ralphie
on the hook for $85, the cost to repair the damage. The used car dealer
gives him till Christmas Eve to come up with the cash.
The rest of the movie is spent with Ralphie
trying to raise that enormous amount of money (it’s just after the end of WWII)
with the help of his two friends. The movie also has a few Walter Mitty-type
flashbacks, in the same fashion as its predecessor.
The acting is decent with David W. Thompson
taking home the Best Actor in the Movie Award. Stern tries, but no matter
how hard he does, there’s just no replacing McGavin, and it’s impossible to
keep his portrayal of The Old Man out of the equation. There is a scene
with Santa where I thought that McGavin had somehow come back to life and was
hiding beneath the beard.
If you take away comparisons to the first movie,
this one can stand on its own. If you insist on making those comparisons,
then you’re going to be seriously disappointed with this one. Go into it
with an open mind, and I promise you’ll enjoy is a lot more. I’ll
give this one a B-, mainly because it was good to see the writings of Shepherd
back on the big screen (even though it’s on DVD).
Technically, A
Christmas Story 2 is the SECOND sequel to be made from A Christmas Story. In 1994, director Bob Clark worked with Shepherd
again to film a movie called It Runs in
the Family. The Parkers are back, although none of them look like the
original cast, and this time it’s summer.
Again, the movie is based on
short stories Shepherd wrote about his childhood, mainly from the Wanda Hickey
book. Charles Grodin plays the Old Man and the boys are played by Macaulay
Culkin’s younger brothers, Kieran and Christian. Mary Steenburgen is the
mom. Despite my best efforts to find this film, I have been
unable. I’m told it’s because one of the cast members has devoted their
life to finding every last copy of it and destroying it, but I’m sure that’s
just an old wives’ tale.
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