What can I say about Christmas with the Kranks? Here is a little holiday movie based on a classic holiday novel written by John Grisham which involves a grouchy couple planning on skipping Christmas to save money. Sounds like a good idea for a movie right? It made a good book so why shouldn't it make a good movie? Well director Joe Roth asked himself that question and decided to make Christmas with the Kranks a big screen movie. Bad idea Joe! Tim Allen plays Luther Krank who's daughter just moved away to join the Peace Corps. While shopping with his sad and dreary wife Nora, played by a depressed Jamie Lee Curtis, on a really rainy evening he see's a poster advertising a Caribbean ship cruise that is only half of their shopping bills. Luther springs the idea on his wife and she agree's, only their neighbors don't. While all the other neighbors put up Christmas lights and Frosty the snowman, we have Luther and Nora getting tans and buying swim ware. But when their daughter calls and tells her parents she's coming home with her foreign boyfriend to spend Christmas with them at their annual party, it's a race against the clock for the Kranks to have another happy Christmas with their daughter.
Here's the main problem with this movie. We have three great actors in this movie: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the late and great Dan Akroyd. They seem funny enough to be in a little holiday romp, but they do not exceed as their characters. Tim isn't as evil as his novel self, Jamie is nothing but dreary and out of shape to play her part, and Dan is just showing off his age and receding hair line rather then playing an annoying neighborhood snoop. The film is weighed down to a level of corny with tacky jokes and a gooey plot that keeps falling apart every minute. You just begin to ask questions as the film progresses. Why should the neighborhood be angry at the Kranks for skipping Christmas? Why doesn't Luther and Nora just flat out tell their daughter they are skipping Christmas? Why not even invite their daughter with them on the cruise? It's major plot holes that shuts this film down without it even taking off.
Now the writer of this film has never seen really good comedy's. This movie never shows a real funny moment. And if it does, it's usually a joke that's been reused over a thousand times. Throughout half the film, the plot just goes from corny, to tacky, to flat out dull. It's all about the neighborhood calling for a battle with the Kranks. Here we see Luther spraying his icy stairway path with a hose to topple carolers and freeze a white kitten to death. Is that really the only good joke the movie can offer? It's goofy twists like that is what sends the film into a spiral of wreckage. The neighbors do nothing but wine, smacking signs into the Kranks property, putting wreaths on their doors, neighborhood children shouting "Free Frosty!" at the top of their lungs. What else can we expect? Luther and his wife flee to their basement with their Frosty statue looking at them with an evil snarl of pain and hate.
I expected better from Tim and Dan while watching this film. It shows how old they have become and what age does to your personality. It sucks the energy from you! The film begins slow with stupid wine jabs and rain humor, soon dishing out tacky neighborhood pranks involving stealing Christmas tree's and having the police come to the rescue, and it ends with a tragic note of sour bitterness and the happily ever after moment that makes you cringe with the thought of "That never happens in real life." Christmas with the Kranks is nothing but a tragic miscalculation turning a wonderfully written novel into a predictable flick that shows off actors age and slamming your head against doors. Christmas with the Kranks gets a 4 for being nothing but predictable. I say you should skip this train wreck and see another holiday movie fun for the whole family. This sure wasn't.
Here's the main problem with this movie. We have three great actors in this movie: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the late and great Dan Akroyd. They seem funny enough to be in a little holiday romp, but they do not exceed as their characters. Tim isn't as evil as his novel self, Jamie is nothing but dreary and out of shape to play her part, and Dan is just showing off his age and receding hair line rather then playing an annoying neighborhood snoop. The film is weighed down to a level of corny with tacky jokes and a gooey plot that keeps falling apart every minute. You just begin to ask questions as the film progresses. Why should the neighborhood be angry at the Kranks for skipping Christmas? Why doesn't Luther and Nora just flat out tell their daughter they are skipping Christmas? Why not even invite their daughter with them on the cruise? It's major plot holes that shuts this film down without it even taking off.
Now the writer of this film has never seen really good comedy's. This movie never shows a real funny moment. And if it does, it's usually a joke that's been reused over a thousand times. Throughout half the film, the plot just goes from corny, to tacky, to flat out dull. It's all about the neighborhood calling for a battle with the Kranks. Here we see Luther spraying his icy stairway path with a hose to topple carolers and freeze a white kitten to death. Is that really the only good joke the movie can offer? It's goofy twists like that is what sends the film into a spiral of wreckage. The neighbors do nothing but wine, smacking signs into the Kranks property, putting wreaths on their doors, neighborhood children shouting "Free Frosty!" at the top of their lungs. What else can we expect? Luther and his wife flee to their basement with their Frosty statue looking at them with an evil snarl of pain and hate.
I expected better from Tim and Dan while watching this film. It shows how old they have become and what age does to your personality. It sucks the energy from you! The film begins slow with stupid wine jabs and rain humor, soon dishing out tacky neighborhood pranks involving stealing Christmas tree's and having the police come to the rescue, and it ends with a tragic note of sour bitterness and the happily ever after moment that makes you cringe with the thought of "That never happens in real life." Christmas with the Kranks is nothing but a tragic miscalculation turning a wonderfully written novel into a predictable flick that shows off actors age and slamming your head against doors. Christmas with the Kranks gets a 4 for being nothing but predictable. I say you should skip this train wreck and see another holiday movie fun for the whole family. This sure wasn't.