Was Cousin Eddie and his family going through hard times in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation?

If they were living in an RV I doubt they could afford a motel. Eddie was just freeloading off of Clark. Eddie asked Clark for cash in the first movie and Clark was willing to give a little when Eddie asked for $52,000.

I can explain what was going on.

First off, Cousin Eddie is an idiot. He's uneducated country moron who doesn't think before he does stuff, and can't hold down a job, due to being stupid. He also has a lot of aspirations, but no business sense at all. He never bothers to figure out how to do things the right way. His wife, while sweet, isn't much smarter, and it's obvious she's content being a housewife while dad fails again and again at getting a steady job. There's a reason they are so poor, they live in an RV instead of a house (though in Vegas Vacation, they had a crappy house out in the desert).

Second, in a conversation Clark and his wife had, Eddie had been out of work for seven years. He had been holding out for management position, which shows you just how dumb he is. You don't get a management position at ANY job by just walking in and hoping for the best. I would be amazed if he could feed his family, never mind get them presents for Christmas, but then again, he seems more concerned about feeding the dog than he is feeding his kids. You saw how many big bags of dog food he grabbed at the store.

He was basically taking advantage of Clark's kind heart and mooching off of him. It's probably how he's survived all these years with his bad handling of money. Mooching off other people's charity. You heard how he shocked Clark by telling him they were leaving "next month," meaning he was going to have that hideous RV there, mooching off of Clark for a solid 30+ days.

Giving Cousin Eddie any money as a gift would be a waste. Chance are, he'd spend it as quickly as he could, or make a really bad investment within less than a month after leaving. He's one of those relatives you wish you were NOT related to.

If you can watch this movie and feel that way about Cousin Eddie, then I have a strong feeling that you are the Cousin Eddie of your family.

Rewatch the Walmart scene. First, the whole time Eddie is laying out his sob story about not having any money he is buying massive bags of dog food for his pride and joy Snot. And second, when Clark offers to buy Christmas presents for Eddie's kids, first Eddie pretends like he doesn't want charity from the Griswalds, but seconds later he is handing Clark a detailed list of what to give everyone.

The dog food is all different- the maximum bag is for ruby sue- the three purina bags are for the son and Eddie and Katherine and the ol roy is for the dog- they are all eating dog food