Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss [VHS]

From the shadow of the steel mills in northern Indiana comes this charming little tale by "Christmas Story" writer Jean Shepherd. Herein is a relaxed and familiar comedy for the whole family, but probably best suited to an older audience.Jerry O'Connell takes over the role of Shepherd's literary persona, Ralph, with James B. Sikking applying his prodigious talent to the role of the "old man." The movie actually contains three plotlines, one about Ralph taking a summer job, one about the family losing their dog, and the final story about the family cartrip to Michigan for some fishing. This is familiar territory for my family, as we have lived/been born/vacationed/worked in northern Indiana or southern Michigan for my whole life.The job subplot isn't bad, but the dog story comes from a little out of left field. The vacation story is the over-arching story, and the road trip part of the movie will be very familar to any good red-blooded, red-meat eating, red-car driving Midwesterner. For the record, my sister was the cranky kid.This isn't high cinema, but if you come from a functional family and want to reawaken some warm memories, or if you come from a dysfunctional family and want to see that even the best of families have their quirks, sit a spell on a Saturday afternoon and pop this movie in.

Hi, movie fans! This 1988 hilarious TV movie about a summer vacation to Michigan is based on the 1983 movie A Christmas Story, another hilarious movie. This is a movie narrated by Jean Shepherd, who also narrated Christmas Story and wrote novels, which his movies werer based on. Ralph Parker(Jerry O' Connell) and his family including his father(James B. Sikking) go on a vacation to a place with cabins by a lake called Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss. I think Sikking does just as good of a job of playing the father in Christmas Story(Darren McGavin). They both do great. This is a great movie. Get it! It's REALLY funny!

I read all the other reviews on Amazon before I purchased this movie. I was anxious to see it because I love "The Christmas Story" so much, that I figured its sequel would be just as great, however, I was very disappointed.The actors (especially the father and mother) couldn't come close to Darrin McGavin and Melinda Dillon's portrayl of the Mother and the Ol' Man. Why weren't their talents used in this film? Ralphy was only okay, and Randy was way too young. If you go along with the first film, the boys weren't that far apart in age.All in all, this film is weak and really doesn't hit the mark like "The Christmas Story".

Shepard is the best at ad lib. saw the original on PBS, called, they had in back room but not selling. actually talked to Shepard hoping he had copy. was trying to complete set for daughter with originals, but this worked out.

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss is one of our top 10 family films since my grown children were young. Recently my daughter wanted to share some family favorites with her fiance. I couldn't find our tape and had to buy a new one. Thank heavans for Amazon.

I was quite delighted to find this movie in VHS! The quality is exceptional and quite a bargain! Definitely do business again!Terrydould

I believe that this was the third installment in the Ralphie trilogy, and unfortunately the least well done. As a joint venture between Disney and Boston's Public TV station, WGBH, it's characters didn't seem fully developed and the acting seemed shallow in comparison to "A Christmas Story." It came across as a low-budget effort.I also had a little trouble with the title, which most of this 100 minute movie didn't actually deal with. Jean Shepard's cameo role as Ralphie's first boss was . . . different, with his character appearing visually stunning and a cross between an Hasidic diamond merchant and Gimli the Dwarf in "Lord of the Rings." No human being has ever had this amount of facial hair.By today's standards this certainly wasn't a bad movie, but it didn't have the attention to detail the first two did and the various story lines had the potential to be taken so much further.

The Jean Shepherd book comes to life in this hilarious video. We laugh and laugh every time we watch it.