A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

A Christmas Story was probably one of my least favorite Christmas movies for years, and I have a dozen or so favorites that I watch nightly as we approach every Christmas. But by relenting some years to watch it after all my favorites had been seen, I have to admit that it has grown on me to the point that this past post-Thanksgiving season I actually ordered myself a DVD copy for my holiday movie collection. Now I will look forward to watching it each year. *** What totally surprised me however was that there was a follow-up to this movie about Ralphie and the Parkers but which takes place the next summer titled: It Runs In The Family (also titled early on as My Summer Story). Being made 11 years later (1994) all the actors are different but for one heartwarming tie to A Christmas Story; the adult Ralphie narrator (also again writer/producer) remains Jean Shepherd. That plus a homage to the original early in the movie draw you right in. If you liked the original then I'd guess you will want to see this followup, with all its antics, frustrations, and silliness. I liked Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen as the parents and although it was a struggle for me initially to warm up to another young actor as Ralphie, he grew on me by the end of the movie. Interesting fact is that Ralphie and his younger brother Randy are played by two of the younger Culkin brothers; Kieran and Christian. I will probably want to add a copy of this to my collection if for nothing more than the tie to the original. Grab some popcorn and watch were the Parker family take you the following summer.

While dozens of Christmas films roll off the production line every year, very few manage to capture the festive season, and the audience's hearts, quite like 'A Christmas Story'. This 80s classic is a real crowd-pleaser, a film that can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age or film taste, which explains its continued popularity with TV networks.Ralphie is a character we can all relate to, because we were all that kid a Christmas once. The film gets his character spot on and the events that take place in the film will bring back a lot of memories for the average viewer. For such a shallow storyline the film provides so much enjoyment and, although there are other films I would rather watch over the festive season than this one, it remains a classic to this day and will always be up there as one of the Christmas greats.

My God, how quickly time flies! "A Christmas Story" celebrates its 34th anniversary this year, which means that all the kids that fill the classroom or stuck their nose on the toy shop window, from Ralphie to his little brother Randy, are in their mid-forties, even that poor little Flick who stuck his ill-fated tongue on the pole (the film's defining image) will turn 50 the next year. And speaking for myself, it's been 24 years that I watched it (fittingly with my kid brother) on a Saturday afternoon and I remember we laughed, we laughed a lot. We weren't from the narrator's generation, but it didn't make it any less accessible or enjoyable. I guess this says a lot about the way the charm of "A Christmas Story" operates, it finds a voice that can speak to any child of any generation and any country, any adult too.Indeed, the age of the film doesn't matter actually, many movies are as old without being classics. Many movies dealt with Christmas with far richer and 'entertaining' plots without reaching that little sparkle of truth and wit. In fact, many movies featured kids that were far smarter than Ralphie, with more 'interesting' problems, but were instantly forgotten. There's just something about "A Christmas Story" that rings the right note, something that works. It didn't work immediately, in a year where "Return of the Jedi" was the phenomenon, and comedies like "Risky Business", "Vacation" or "Trading Places" attracted more crowds, critics welcomed Bob Clark's film with timid enthusiasm. Others, like Vincent Canby, criticized it while conceding a touching nostalgic value. But the attention got warmer with time, people realized they could watch this film and watch it again, that they could enjoy it as well as their parents or their kids, that the quest of Ralphie could resonate more strongly in the parents' hearts. They also saw that unlike indisputable classics like "It's a Wonderful Life", the film didn't rely on its ending, it was interesting from beginning to end. Slowly, the film became the consummate feel-good family Christmas movie, with the charm of nostalgic classics filled with colorful characters like Fellini's "Amarcord" or Woody Allen's "Radio Daus", with a similar wit coming from the voice-over narration of Jean Shepherd. It's set in the 40's, the kids aren't even baby-boomers, but there's a classic tropism established by Ebert that the more specific a story is, the more universal it is, even more universal since the film is about childhood.And what better time than Christmas to amplify the most basic aspects of that magical yet volatile time? We all know the story: "Little Ralphie wants the new Red Ryder B.B. Gun" only to bump into the same frustrating answer: "You'll shoot your eye out". You have everything in that premise: the powerlessness of children, the fetishism surrounding toys and the obstruction of overprotective mothers, it's the eternal struggle between kids and parents, culminating in Christmas time and forcing a child to seek escapism in dreams or find stratagems to convince his parents, same as parents who use tricks to talk them into finishing their plates.. It's Childhood becomes a time where communication is never a straight line. And some attempts are so pathetically deemed to fail that it elevates Ralphie as one of the most adorable Christmas protagonists.There's something so irresistible in the face of little Ralphie (played by Peter Bilingsley), he's not your smart ass cute-looking kid, not a Kevin McAllister, he's just an average little boy whose dreams are all focused on the holy grail of all toys and trying to find the proper language to communicate it to his father, his mother or eventually his teacher. The father played by Darren McGavin Is a no nonsense man who spends his time swearing but is oblivious to the fact that his kid would have grew an awareness of a few dirty words. The mother played by Melinda Dillon is more diplomatic and sweet (love the scene where she tries to convince Randy to eat) but God forbid she ever hears swearing, she then becomes the 'bad cop' who knows how to wipe dirty words off a child's mouth, with the perfect brand of soap. The film contains all the elements of childhood, friends, parents, toys, bullies, toadies, daring and double-daring (not to mention triple-daring), snow games, toys, joys and deceptions. Indeed, one of the most interesting scene involves the discovery of an ad message behind a secret code (proof that even at those times, publicity was frustratingly omnipresent). The closest to sensual awakening comes from the comical introduction of a sexy lamp made of a leg, causing a great deal of jealousy between the couple. The film looks likes a series of vignettes but to avoid the episodic feeling, there's that common thread, that constant goal that never deserts Ralphie's mind: the B.B. Gun and the inevitable "Eye-shooting" line, inspiring a hilarious comment coming, of all persons, from Santa Claus himself.But "A Christmas Story" is not about the gun, but about these wishes that obsessed us as kids. And there's just a gentleness about this film, an innocence that rhymes with intelligence, a desire to talk to the inner child inside us without losing the adult touch, that the narration comes from an adult voice creates the perfect bridge between the two worlds, and makes the film such a unique experience. That and the fact that every scene is original and there's a sense of detail that makes each viewing richer than the first. It's a film that grows on you and gets more special every time you watch it.Not to mention that it's hilarious, you won't shoot your eye out, but you'll laugh your ass off.

A Christmas Story has become a festive classic in North America with a lot of subsequent films trying to replicate its success.It follows the nostalgic tinged tale of young Ralphie (as told by his adult self) a schoolboy in 1940s America who wants a BB gun for Christmas which his mum tells him will shoot his eye out. We see Ralphie getting up to pranks with his fellow classmates, being bullied by a rough kid, going to see Santa at the department store and of course his life with his parents and younger brother with tales of his dad winning a prize of a stockinged leg which he uses as a lamp.Darren McGavin looks too old to be their dad. Peter Billingsley brings a lot of charm as the precocious bespectacled Ralphie for whom life never quite turns out as he imagined in his head such as trying to lay hints of what he would like for Christmas.It is whimsical and fun but I would not call it a Christmas classic.