Question: When Clark gives his boss a Christmas present, he is told to put it with all of the others. There are plenty of presents there, but they are all the same, as they have the exact same shape. What are these presents?
Answer: I've seen them in stores, it's a desk pen set with a matching business card holder.
Chosen answer: We don't know what is in the packages, but we can assume they are all the same, small, generic gift.
Answer: I think that they could all be tape holders.
Answer: An idea someone mentioned helps resolve some of these "quirks" about the movie. Think of the movie as if Clark is retelling this story a long time in the future - maybe to his grandchildren. Same with the other Vacation movies - he is retelling the story from memory, and his memory sucks or is exaggerated. This explains why things that happen seem to be fantastic (the sledding, how goofy Eddie is, the children's age swapping around, how they got the tree, etc.). In the scene with the present for his boss, he is just remembering that everyone gave him a gift. He can't remember what they all looked like, so they all looked like his. It's also possible that everyone decided to get the same gift, I guess.
I know it's not your idea, but that is pretty deep for a Chevy Chase movie. It's simply that Clark isn't so special. He thought he was making a unique gesture to the big guy only to find out he was only one of a dozen or so—and obviously just as unoriginal as the rest.
Question: I remember seeing a scene at Clark's boss' house with lots of people having a big party when Cousin Eddie shows up to kidnap him. What happened to that scene in the version I bought on DVD?
Answer: Are you sure it was this movie? The boss was in his jammies when he was kidnapped and his wife was alone when she called the police.
This does seem unlikely. Having him abducted from a party would change the entire end of the film. As you say, he's in his pajamas, which would make no sense.
Answer: I remember this scene as well, but can't find any notes on it anywhere.
Answer: They are desk organizers.
I'm wondering maybe it was one of the gags in the movie where the boss got the same gift from all the employees. I know there's a lot of gags in the vacation movies.
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