Jean Shepard’s book ‘In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash’ inspired the 1983 film ‘A Christmas Story.’ The film did well upon release, but in the intervening years it’s become a holiday classic.  So much so that it inspired a sequel in 1994 (‘It Runs in the Family’), and now the “official” sequel ‘A Christmas Story 2.’

In this direct-to-video effort, Daniel Stern stars as the old man, Stacy Travis plays the mom and Braeden Lemasters has the unlucky task of playing Ralphie. This seems to cast Ralphie as a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy, but the part looks to be played as just as doe-eyed and innocent as in the first film. There’s a joke in the trailer about one of his friends trying to fondle a woman, but we bet that sex doesn’t really enter into the equation.

The film comes from Brian Levant, who’s directed such films as ‘Jingle All the Way,’ ‘The Flintstones,’ and the Cuba Gooding Jr.-starring classic ‘Snow Dogs.’ This movie was made because there is enough name recognition for the original that this could be done for a price point, and for a studio that knows that they can make money through that name brand. The late Jean Shepherd wrote ‘It Runs in the Family,’ but this makes a point of saying it’s the official sequel, even though Shepherd gets a “based on the works of” credit.

Basically, you’ve been warned:

 

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