When the calendar turns to December what better way to get in the Christmas spirit than watching Christmas themed movies. We all know the classics: Christmas Vacation, It’s a wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Die Hard. These all fit the classic Christmas movie stereotype; renegade protagonist who slowly understands the true meaning of Christmas. With that being said, there’s a glaring hole in the Christmas season, where is Lethal Weapon in the holiday lineup? It’s got all the ingredients of a classic. 1) It’s set over the holiday season (basically all it needs). 2) Main Characters who don’t play by the rules. 3) Explosions. So why don’t we switch on this original buddy cop drama every December 25th? It it because the storyline would be completely unchanged if you switched the setting from the holidays to any other time of year? The answer is probably. But lets look at some yule tide favorites that fit the same mold, and are still credited as Christmas movies.
Love Actually really has nothing to do with Christmas. The main story of bringing people together, while it fits nicely with the holidays, could be set any other time of year and still be relevant. Yes they go to that school Christmas pageant thing at the end, but really the movie is about an airport as much as it is Christmas.
The Sound of Music has absolutely no relation to Christmas at all and yet everyone considers it a Christmas movie.
It’s a Wonderful Life is just about a man being beaten down by life and finding himself. George Bailey is basically a early version of Martin Riggs. Riggs is suicidal at the beginning, but through his relationship with Murtaugh and his family, he’s saved. Murtaugh if anything is just like Clarence, too old to be doing what he’s doing, and we love him for it.
In conclusion, if you consider the aforementioned movies to be holiday classics, then Lethal Weapon must be in consideration as well. And this season, when you get cozy in your living room with a cup of hot chocolate and are ready to settle down for the night, throw on Lethal Weapon, you won’t be disappointed.
Dunking on Oxford 