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A Christmas Story

1983 • 93 minutes
4.6
8.52K reviews
89%
Tomatometer
PG
Rating
Eligible

About this movie

Destined to become a holiday classic, this family comedy follows an Indiana schoolboy whose obsession with getting a Red Ryder air rifle for Christmas leads to hilarious consequences. Co-starring Emmy-winner Darren McGavin ("Kolchak: The Night Stalker"). Based upon a true story. MPAA Rating: NOTRATED (c) 1983 A Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved
Rating
PG

Ratings and reviews

4.6
8.52K reviews
Kyle Vansteelandt
December 21, 2019
A Christmas Story may needs some improvement, but this holiday movie brings enormous nostalgia. The narration by Jean Sheperd is top-notch, the delivery in his narration brings playful emotion and really makes the story very easy to be engaging and remains never to be ignored. And the script that Jean was reading has creative detail and has brilliant writing from the imagining standpoint of children on how they described what they experienced and imagined, which brings tons of nostalgia to us and reminds us of our childhood. Not to mention that this film has characters with personality traits that felt very realistic from our child-like perspective, like how our parents acted and how they treated us, how we imagined something that was going to happen, and the situations we have been through when we were kids. The film is unsure of what it's target audience because of the foul language that was briefly used, even if this film has been promoted as a family friendly film, the language was said by parents and even children which is even worse, because the writers should never write lines with swear words for children to say. The bloodhounds are the running gag of the film and they have been hated in this film by Old man who is Ralph's father. The bloodhounds have been abused once with the tail and the door and they have been called a B word at the end of the film. The moral of this film is "dreams don't always end up as true, and knowing what to expect in true reality" which is an important message for children to learn. The music score is whimsical and dynamic. The score can go from suspenseful and dramatic to playful and bouncy, the score may be unoriginal most of the time, but the score was written that way for a very understandable reason, the score does have some originality in places. To conclude: A Christmas Story is one of those movies that left me torn (if I have not sit through those flaws, I would never get to mildly enjoy the nostalgia, the charm, and such great storytelling). Parents, If your kids do see this film, you should definitely talk to them about what happens in reality that we need to expect and the foul language they should never use. Worth a rental and probably suitable for kids age 10 and up.
38 people found this review helpful
Noah Phillips
December 29, 2021
It's a pretty bad movie. None of the characters are really likeable, and everyone is constantly acting like a self centered 7 year-old. I do not know how this is a favourite Christmas movie for anyone, as the focus is taken off of any of the important aspects of the holiday. I highly suggest you don't waste your time watching this.
Kevin the Cleric
December 13, 2018
I bought this because I heard some good things and the reviews were very positive. Sad to say that I didn't care for it all that much. It was an ok movie, but was not worth $10 that I spent on it. Don't waste your money, download this for free