Una pazza vacanza di Natale

I can see why people hate this, but really there's a lot of good lines in there. It's an absurd movie but maybe you have to have seen it 20 times when you were 19 (and entertainment choices were more limited than they are now) to really appreciate it. Anyway, I love it. Phil Hartman is great. I will admit to being a Grodin fan and maybe that is necessary too. I love the Club Sand Song. The catch phrases, "What!" "Brainwash" "Manwhaaaaay-lo" "we're gonna teach you" But it's full of SNL-style, catch-phrase heavy humor, sketch-oriented type stuff, and you shouldn't miss Megan Mulally as 17 yr old Jessica. It was all something back in '86.

Cheap-cheap-cheap comic feature. An extremely bad, agonizingly unfunny comedy concerning urban family man Charles Grodin taking the wife and kids on vacation to an island resort, and not getting what he expected. Grainy, grimy mess is a most uncomfortable viewing experience. The movie actually manages to look worse than your average TV feature, with the limp writing at a sophomoric level and a direction that seems non-existent. Grodin, in desperation-mode, is obviously being wasted, but supporting performers Jon Lovitz, Mario Van Peebles and Phil Hartman don't even seem to take notice.

A real dog; NO STARS from ****

The only thing good about this movie is the poster.

That's the thing that reels you in because the artist actually invested some time on it.

The actual movie is horrid on levels that are just insulting.

The only way this film was made was to be a money laundering scheme.

Nothing in this movie works to any degree.

Story wise, this is just miserable - even though there is a great cast, the plot has nothing to it.

I assume money laundering is big business in films - because so many films which would never pass in reality are made - even though like this one, they are made truly horrible.

There's no spoilers because there's nothing to spoil...the movie was spoiled from the very beginning and lasted to the very end.

Slapstick. I dont particularly like it. I liked slapstick as a kid. And some slapstick movies can still be great to watch as an adult, but not this one.

The bad: the jokes arent funny. And the "jokes" are in my face. THIS is a joke, NOW LAUGH. I hate that.

Not any good? Charles Grodin is a great actor and comedian as well, but Grodin usually excells in subtle, sarcastic humor, NONE of that is to be found in this movie though. Bummer.

NOT recommended, unless you are fond of silly slapstick then this is the movie for you!

First and foremost most if not all the background actors were fairly fresh, Phil Hartman and Jon Lovitz hadn't been on SNL yet, Mario Van Peebles was still an extra. The real only headliner was Charles Grodin. This movie takes many viewings to properly get into the spirit of things. I've watched it several times usually followed up with Club Paradise and Club Dread.