Cast: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey and M. Emmet Walsh
Director: Joe Roth
Studio Synopsis: Luther Krank (Tim Allen) decides to skip Christmas and all the surrounding trappings and go on a vacation with his wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) instead. But when his daughter decides, at the last minute, to come home for the holiday, he is forced to put Christmas back together.
Rating: PG
Running Time: 99 minutes
Official Web site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/
christmaswiththekranks/
Trailer: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/
christmaswiththekranks/
Review: Is that too much to ask Santa Claus to deliver a funny Christmas comedy? We barely survived Surviving Christmas. Now we must endure Christmas With the Kranks. To be fair, this humdrum holiday farce isnÕt half the turkey that Ben Affleck recently stuffed down our throats. But thatÕs not say this painfully staged adaptation of John GrishamÕs Skipping Christmas offers much Yuletide joy. For starters, itÕs hard to believe the Kranks (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) would actually skip Christmas to save up for a Caribbean cruise. Steer clearing of the crass commercialism of Christmas is understandable, but that doesnÕt necessitate refusing to even acknowledge the holidays. Heck, how much effort does it take to haul a plastic Frosty the Snowman out storage and tie it to the roof? Quicker than you say utter ÒBah, humbug,Ó the Kranks become social pariahs in their close-knit suburban community. They incur the wrath of neighbor Dan Aykroyd for refusing to decorate their home, their friends feel snubbed, and the local newspapers dismisses them as Scrooges by the local newspaper. The premise offers great potential for some truly ugly and humiliating shenanigans. But director Joe Roth seems content to keep matters as civil as possible. Unfortunately, itÕs quite dull just to hear the whispers behind the KranksÕ back and to see the dirty looks they get at work or in the mall. Every now and then Roth surprises us by pulling out a few comic gemsÑAllen sitting down to dinner following Botox injections, a bikini-clad Curtis cornered in a tanning saloon by her dismayed priestÑfrom a sack of coal. Then the film changes its tone when the KranksÕ daughter announces she coming home for Christmas. Roth generates some warmth as the film celebratesÑin obvious but occasionally touching fashionÑthe holiday spirit and the importance community plays in our lives. But itÕs too little, too late. Allen and CurtisÑwho make a cute and affectionate coupleÑdeserve some holiday cheer for their willingness to do anything and everything to cajole a smile or two from us. But Roth executes the falling off roofs, the crashing of shopping carts and the chasing of crooks without much mirth or invention. RothÑalso responsible for the horribly smug American SweetheartsÑreally should stick to his day job as head of Revolution Studios. In the hands of Bad Santa director Terry Zwigoff, this could have been a gloriously anarchic attack on a consumerist society thatÕs lost sight of the true meaning of Christmas. As it now stands, spending Christmas With the Kranks is a terrible waste of time.
Other Reviews:
The Miami Herald (1 1/2 stars)
The Sun-Sentinel (1 1/2 stars)
The Palm Beach Post (C+)
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