With the Holiday season just around the corner, A Christmas Story's sequel, A Christmas Story Christmas, has just been released on HBO Max. The film has surprised many fans, as it's hilarious, well-written, well-acted, shockingly heartfelt, and it doesn't rely on fan service. It's as perfect of a sequel that a Christmas Story follow-up could be, but it still has its armchair critics.

Many Redditors have been quick to note the sequel's flaws, and some have even talked about how the original movie isn't the Christmas classic that most people call it. Between hating Peter Billingsley's narration, thinking the Leg Lamp gag is "weird," and criticizing the vignette format, some Redditors lack Christmas cheer.

The Leg Lamp Is A Weird Running Gag

As the movie is made of vignettes, one of the most memorable is the continuously heated debate between Mr. and Mrs. Parker about a table lamp, which happens to be in the shape of a woman's leg. Mr. Parker is overjoyed after winning it in a contest, but Mrs. Parker thinks it's ghastly and wants to get rid of it.

It's part of what makes the 1983 release one of the funniest Christmas movies, but Reddit user FlyMeToSaturn doesn't see what's so funny about it. The Redditor comments, "The leg-lamp thing is such a weird running joke." It's a perfect example of 80s midwestern families bickering, and the point that it's a weird novelty item that only somebody with no taste would love is what makes it so hilarious.

The Vignette Format Doesn't Work

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Though A Christmas Story was originally considered a dud, the vignette format of the 1983 film is what makes it so unique in the list of iconic Christmas movies. However, PeachyTwizzler77 thinks the format is the very reason why the movie doesn't work in their eyes.

The Redditor argues, "All the scenes seem to be strung together and only a few of them even mean anything to the plot, it feels like it has no plot at all like you're just watching this kids day-to-day life." Though it's easy to see why a film with little plot development doesn't appeal to everyone, the day-in-the-life style is exactly the point, and the film is all about the random events leading up to Christmas.

The Original Is For Boomers

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There's no doubt that A Christmas Story is timeless, and despite its 1940 setting, it's still relatable now, whether it's children relating to Ralphie's hope for the best Christmas gift or parents relating to the struggle of making Christmas perfect for their kids. However, Mb9981 believes that nobody outside of "boomers" who are nostalgic for the 40s could enjoy the film.

The Redditor posits, "This movie only survives because it preys on false-memory nostalgia for people born between 1940-1960 who wish life was simpler." But given that the movie has so many younger fans too, it's the comedy and the well-written characters, along with the nostalgic setting that has fans watching it annually.

The Original Is Too Cringey

A Christmas Story Western

QueasyMachine thinks A Christmas Story is way too cringey to enjoy. The Redditor notes, "It’s more cringe than comedy to me, and makes me physically uncomfortable to watch. I’d personally rather beat my head on a rock than voluntarily sit down and watch it." But in the grand scheme of the Christmas movie genre and considering the countless sentimental Holiday films, A Christmas Story is far from cringey.

Most Christmas movies generally have the same narrative, whether it's losing faith in Santa or being about characters who are too materialistic, and the final act sees those characters learning about the true meaning of Christmas in the schmaltziest way possible. While A Christmas Story has an element of characters overcoming their materialistic habits, the characters in the movie aren't completely likable, and they have bad habits and imperfections that make the film different from its peers.

Julie Haggerty Was A Bad Casting Choice

A Christmas Story Christmas Parker Family and Friends Gather in Ending

For a legacy sequel following the original by almost 40 years, it's such a logistical achievement that Warner Bros. managed to get everyone back. However, there is one glaringly obvious recast, as Julie Haggerty replaced Melinda Dillon as Mrs. Parker because Dillon retired in 2007. Haggerty is known for her comedic roles in classics like Airplane and What About Bob?, and she fits in perfectly in A Christmas Story Christmas and even makes the character more three-dimensional.

But Nobodycares2022 wasn't as thrilled by Haggerty's performance as everyone else. The Redditor argues, "They portrayed the mom in the original as loving, funny, smart, and the reasonable one of the family minus a few scenes. The mom character in this movie was just bad in my opinion." However, Haggerty played Mrs. Parker perfectly as a woman who had just lost her husband but still had to keep up appearances for her family.

They Don't Care About Their Father Dying

In the newly released Christmas sequel, the whole catalyst for Ralphie spending Christmas in Indiana is because his father passes away, and for the most part, it affects every character's arc. But this user doesn't it that way, positing, "The dad dies and it’s like welp just another regular day."

The Redditor might have seen it that way because Ralphie was constantly procrastinating and putting off writing his father's obituary, but Christmas and writing his novel was just a coping mechanism. The fact that Ralphie's father passed away is what affects almost every major decision each character makes, not to mention the surprisingly emotional final scene.

The Carollers Scene Is Bad

A Christmas Story Christmas Mrs Parker

One of the new gags in the series is how Mrs. Parker hates carollers with a passion and will avoid them at all costs. It's a great scene and one that perfectly showcases how perfect Haggerty is for the role, but Cmdrdredd doesn't feel the same way. The Redditor argues, "There are also some odd moments that they try to play off as a family tradition like hating carolers, and they spend a good 10 minutes on a scene that is a time filler and has no link to the first movie at all."

The user is right in that it's strange that Mrs. Parker's fear of carollers wasn't mentioned in the original movie, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the scene is hilarious. Not only that, but the idea that people either love or loathe carollers is so true, and it has never been raised in a Christmas movie until now.

The Callbacks Were Forced

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With a small pocket of viewers, it seems like the movie can't win either way. Whether it's coming up with original ideas like the caroling scene or featuring references to the original film, somebody is going to be upset. In this case, RobPlaysThatGame thinks there were too many callbacks and that they didn't land quite right.

The Redditor mentions, "A lot of the callbacks felt forced and didn't land for me, but all the moments in between when the film was trying to be original were fun (the caroling scene especially comes to mind.)" However, in reality, there weren't all that many callbacks. The movie avoided the easy laughs, as the leg lamp and the Red Ryder BB Gun were barely mentioned. And of all of A Christmas Story's iconic quotes, only a few of them were repeated.

The Sequel Is Worse Than My Summer Story

My Summer Story

Many people might not know, but A Christmas Story Christmas isn't the first sequel to A Christmas Story. While most fans didn't know it existed, 1994's My Summer Story serves as a sequel to the original 1983 movie. There was another sequel too, 2012's A Christmas Story 2, which ignores the fact that My Summer Story exists.

Ultimately, neither of them are canon, and A Christmas Story Christmas ignores the fact that neither of them exists, and rightly so, as the forgotten sequels were critically slammed and hated by fans. However, this user argues that My Summer Story is better than the HBO Max movie. The Redditor notes, "It wasn’t horrible. It wasn’t as bad as Christmas Story 2 and not as good as The Summer Story but it missed many elements."

Billingsley's Narration Was Bad

A Christmas Story Christmas Ralph Writing

In A Christmas Story, Jean Shephard, who co-wrote the script, narrates the story as Adult Ralphie, but in A Christmas Story Christmas, Peter Billingsley, who plays Ralphie, narrates the film. Mannymoes2k is the most critical of the narration, commenting, "Something about the way he enunciated certain words and tried too hard to sound Barry-White-smooth at other times combined with the cadence of his speech just didn’t work."

While Billingsley was never going to sound identical to Shephard, it's close enough and the emphasis on particular words mimics Shephard's cadence in the original film. And there's no denying that Billingsley's narration blends in perfectly with Shephard's at the end of the movie when it bleeds into the opening monologue in A Christmas Story.

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