Christmas with the Kranks

12/08/04 - Review

The Kranks are your typical all American family.  The three of them: Luther (Tim Allen), Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis), and Blair have celebrated Christmas together for the last twenty plus years.  Their parties are so famous that the whole neighborhood that they live in are cordially invited.  But when Blair goes to Peru to join the Peace Corps, the family will be one short for Christmas. Uh-oh

Luther has an amazing idea to skip Christmas this year and instead take Nora with him on a ten day Caribbean vacation. She balks at the idea but eventually comes around. However, the rest of the community and friends don’t feel as happy about their decision.  Led by the self proclaimed neighborhood Mayor, Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Ackroyd), a backlash develops against the Kranks for their selfish thinking. 

The Kranks avoid everyone at all costs until they learn that Blair is coming home for Christmas with her new boyfriend. Now they only have several hours to pull off a miracle and host one of their magnificent parties. Well, they say Christmas is the time of miracles. 

Another weekend, another Christmas movie, and like the previous, Surviving Christmas, Christmas with the Kranks fails to provide the laughs and the true Christmas spirit that we are so desperately missing this year. 

While watching the movie, you feel like you are waiting for a big moment to come but in reality it never does.  Aside from a few moments, the film just really can’t live up to past Christmas comedies.  Don’t get me wrong, the Botox injection into Tim Allen’s face was hysterical but besides a few others, the movie just seemed to drag on forever.

The story even fails to capture the spirit of Christmas with its dull and lifeless characters that seem to not even fit into this movie.  It just seemed way too long for a comedy and it was only about 1:40.  The true spirit of Christmas starts to show at the end when everyone is helping, but by then you really don’t care anymore. 

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis was delightful in their roles but they seemed a bit held back, most likely because of the script. I think that with something better the film would have surely been a riot especially since Dan Ackroyd was thrown in the mix as a neighborhood watchdog.  His character was quite creepy and his true colors really showed at the end.  I wish only the rest of the cast and characters were that good.  It seemed like a waste by a crappy script.

Really, if you must see a Christmas comedy, check out Bad Santa or Christmas Vacation.  The latest offerings just don’t stack up against the others.  It is a shame too because of the high caliber talent but this is Hollywood and they produce anything that comes across their desks.  I guess we will have to wait a bit longer for a real treat from The North Pole. 

Grade

What do you think?