Variety
"...A version of Christmas as it exists only in the imagination....Shepherd has always been best at evoking the texture of life as it used to be in his midwest childhood..." 11/16/1983Chicago Sun-Times
"...There are many small but perfect moment in A CHRISTMAS STORY....There is a real knowledge of human nature beneath the comedy..." 12/24/2000 p.3 Entertainment Weekly
"...Think of it as IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE for post-Reagan generations as it morphs from cult to classic 20 years down the road..." 10/10/2003 p.107 USA Today
"...[A] modern-classic telling of Jean Shepard's '40s-based Midwest yarn..." 10/10/2003 p.6E ReelViews 9 of 10
A Christmas Story has something no other holiday film - new or old, comedic or serious - can boast: perfect nostalgia. That quality fuels this modern-day classic and has made it one of the season's most beloved motion pictures. One of the Turner cable stations annually runs the movie non-stop for 24 hours and that's the mark of something with which people feel comfortable. A Christmas Story takes place in the early 1940s, but so much material in the film is universal that, irrespective of your birth date or religious affiliation, you're likely to find more than one familiar thing contained herein...Director Bob Clark, whose resume is nothing if not diverse (Black Christmas, Porky's, Rhinestone, Baby Geniuses) is the right choice for the material. He understands Shepherd's script and achieves the tone necessary to make this an enduring movie rather than a holiday throw-away. When it was released, MGM saw this as a minor blip on their release schedule - a Thanksgiving morsel designated for a two-week run. They were surprised by the movie's theatrical staying power in 1983 and even more surprised by its long-term appeal. If you're a fan of Christmas movies or films that use nostalgia as a driver, A Christmas Story cannot be missed. Then again, if you're in either category, you have probably already seen it. - James Berardinelli
Chicago Sun-Times 10 of 10
One of the details that "A Christmas Story" gets right is the threat of having your mouth washed out with Lifebouy soap. Not any soap. Lifebouy. Never Ivory or Palmolive. Lifebouy, which apparently contained an ingredient able to nullify bad language. The only other soap ever mentioned for this task was Lava, but that was the nuclear weapon of mouth-washing soaps, so powerful it was used for words we still didn't even know...There are many small but perfect moments in "A Christmas Story," and one of the best comes after the Lifebouy is finally removed from Ralphie's mouth and he is sent off to bed. His mother studies the bar, thinks for a moment, and then sticks it in her own mouth, just to see what it tastes like. Moments like that are why some people watch "A Christmas Story" every holiday season. There is a real knowledge of human nature beneath the comedy...In a poignant way, "A Christmas Story" records a world that no longer quite exists in America. Kids are no longer left unattended in the line for Santa. The innocence of kids' radio programs has been replaced by slick, ironic children's programming on TV. The new Daisy BB guns have a muzzle velocity higher than that of some police revolvers, and are not to be sold to anyone under 16. Nobody knows who Red Ryder was, let alone that his sidekick was Little Beaver. - Roger Ebert
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