Ralphie Parker is back and while he may not want a Red Ryder BB Gun, he does want his family to experience the perfect Christmas.
A Christmas Story Christmas takes place in 1973, 33 years after 1983’s A Christmas Story. Ralphie (again played by Peter Billingsley) has taken a year off from work to focus on his writing. His manuscript, which could arguably be considered Stephen King length (the story is said to be 2,000 pages), has had difficulties getting published.
Just before Christmas, Ralphie receives horrible news: The Old Man (portrayed in the original film by the late Darren McGavin) has died. Ralphie packs up his family, including wife Sandy (Erinn Hayes) and children, Mark (River Drosche) and Julie (Julianna Layne) and returns to his hometown of Hohman, Indiana to spend Christmas with his mother (now played by Julie Hagerty; original actress Melinda Dillon retired in 2007).
Ralphie’s mother makes Ralphie promise this Christmas will be one to never forget. Ralphie agrees to this, hoping to make Christmas as memorable for his family as The Old Man made Christmas for Ralphie and Randy (Ian Petrella).
While visiting his hometown, Ralphie also reunites with his friends, Flick (Scott Schwartz) and Schwartz (R.D. Robb). Ralphie’s old friends still have the same rivalry seen in the first movie (“I triple dog dare ya!”), but they are still friendly with each other.
The film contains many callbacks to the first film. This is seen where we hear The Old Man’s voice from the first movie delivering some of his infamous lines (“Nadda finger!” among others). We also see Ralphie drifting off into his imagination, just as he does many times in the first movie. We also see the occasional flashback to the first film as Ralphie sees something happening in the present day that reminds him of the past.
Lovers of A Christmas Story will love this film just as much. The film is a love letter to the original, especially its tribute to The Old Man. While he doesn’t physically appear, The Old Man’s presence is felt throughout the entire film and his absence is certainly felt. He was certainly everyone’s Old Man. The film’s heart lies in its tributes to The Old Man and it’s enough to make everyone get a little teary-eyed.
A Christmas Story Christmas is a fantastic legacy sequel. It’s wonderful to see most of the original cast playing their parts again. And the new characters are loveable, too. Sandy is a loving spouse to Ralphie and a wonderful mother to their children. Mark and Julie are reminiscent of Ralphie as a child and their bond is closer than Ralphie and Randy’s was in the first film, which is a nice change of pace; the siblings even face their bullies together near the end of the film.
A Christmas Story Christmas is streaming exclusively on HBO Max. No word yet on if it will get a home media release, but hopefully it does so a wider audience can experience this worthy sequel.
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