henrypaulmerklein I would rather find coal in my stocking than this unfunny, uneventfull, waiste of memory space.

bstover1960 Look at the shear number of goofs and errors in this film.Now recall that it is narrated by an adult, recollecting the events of his youth.Now I propose a theory: the goofs/errors are not done accidentally, rather they are the poor memory of an old man trying to recall events of when he was just 9 years old. Then again, it could be low budget or just a careless nature of the film makers...

Prismark10 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.

Leofwine_draca When I saw A Christmas Story repeatedly described as the 'best Christmas film ever', I knew I'd be invariably disappointed. This sweet and sentimental story is a family-focused tale about a young boy growing up in the 1940s and desperate for a toy gun for Christmas. Yep, the usual American preoccupation with commercialism, and not a patch on the likes of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.It is, however, the sort of film that kids would love, given that it charts children getting up to repeated mischief in much the same way as Richmal Crompton's JUST WILLIAM books. I can imagine that it's the type of film that people would watch themselves as a kid in the 1980s and grow up loving it with a fuzzy feeling of nostalgic warmth, which is fair enough.The twist about A Christmas Story is that it's actually a Canadian film, directed by the one and only Bob Clark, whose Black Christmas is one of the ultimate Christmas horror films ever made. As for this film, it's watchable and fitfully amusing, featuring the usual pratfalls and scenes of kids getting their tongues stuck to frozen poles. The main character is a bit annoying although not as much as I'd feared and old-timer Darren McGavin helps to anchor things as his dad. Indeed, I found it entertaining enough, just not the classic I'd read about.