User reviews

The first part of this movie is filled with dark humor and makes a worthwhile statement: Most of those who celebrate Christmas do so because of the trappings, not because of the substance. The huge snowman that each family who lives on the block is supposed to inflate and put atop their house points to the frivolity of the holiday for the average observer. I haven't read John Grisham's book "Skipping Christmas" yet but the first half of the film seems to be pure Grisham. Luther Krank (Tim Allen) is something of an antihero declaring his own private little war on Christmas abuse, unlike Dickens' Scrooge who simply doesn't want to be bothered with the holiday because he's a miser and worships money. Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) on the other hand really wants the show of Christmas to impress the neighbors and not to rock the boat. Having her only child Blair Krank (Julie Gonzalo) away from home at Christmas for the first time kills her holiday spirit anyway. She is pictured as a doting mom who has spoiled her child rotten at the expense of her marriage and anything else not involving Blair. The second half of the film becomes a standard traditional type outing with Luther Krank being the scrooge-like selfish oaf who wants to spoil it all with his bah, humbug attitude. He comes around by giving the best gift of all to his neighbor whose wife is dying of cancer. In other words, the film cops out during the second half and with it the humor sours. A potentially funny holiday treat becomes just another lame copy of "It's a Wonderful Life."

There are some truly funny sequences during the first part of the movie. Note when Luther Krank waters down his sidewalk to make it slippery for the terrible carolers. Keep your eye on the neighbor's cat. The botox part is excruciatingly laughable with Tim Allen at his best. The tanning scene with the glorious Tom Poston as the Krank's priest is also hilarious. Too bad this level of humor was not maintained throughout.

The cast is well chosen with one exception. Cheech Marin is wasted in a thankless role. When given a chance he can be a funny man.

This is one of those films that you can't ignore the obvious manipulation. Each scene is telegraphed a mile a way, with no real attempt to mark new ground. No, this film is exactly what it is intended to be; holiday good cheer and nothing more. In that respect, the film is successful and in the end, a harmless holiday movie that tries to help us forget all the real world darkness going on.

Tim Allen seems to be carving out a career with these Christmas movies. Though his performance is not even close to his Santa character, he still manages to put in a performance that has some memorable moments (the scene after his fat injection is a hoot). Jamie Lee is over the top and at times can be a little too much, but still, she fits right in with the rest of the decorations that are wrapped around this Christmas tree of a movie. I give it a 6 because let's be honest, it is totally predictable and corny. But as I mentioned, it is a welcome to all the negative things going on right now.

For the first time, Luther Krank (Tim Allen) and his wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) are about to celebrate the holidays without their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo), who has just left for the Peace Corps in Peru. Luther sees a Caribbean cruise poster in a Chicago travel agency window, and he begins to plan the trip. First he must see how he will pay for the trip, so he comes up with an idea that if they skipped Christmas, they could go. He will save money by not buying a tree, having a party, or putting up decorations. The neighbors think he is crazy and want him to at least put Frosty the Snowman on his roof for the local decoration contest. The battle begins between the Kranks and their neighbors. Then Blair calls and tells her parents that she is flying home for Christmas with her fiancée. They have twenty-four hours to put up all the decorations and prepare for the Christmas party. The movie was based on a John Grisham book, 'Skipping Christmas'. It is a cute Christmas story with a lot of funny slapstick sketches. It reminds you of the Chevy Chase movie, 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'. Tim Allen does a great job in several comedy scenes, especially, the scenes where he gets bowtox injections in his face and the suntan scene. (Columbia Pictures, Run time 1:39, Rated PG) (5/10)

Despite being only an hour and 40 minutes long, Christmas With the Kranks feels like a goddamn eternity due to how atrocious the pacing is. For the first 30 minutes plot points just rush past until when the Kranks learn that their daughter is coming home and they need to quickly churn out a holiday party, which is when the pacing grinds to a halt. This leads to extreme tonal whiplash, as it turns from a Cable Guy-style black comedy into a generic, paint by numbers Hallmark movie.

I do have to agree with others who have reviewed this movie that the message is completely antithetical to the spirit of Christmas, as the titular Kranks are bullied and essentially brainwashed until they are forced to give in and celebrate with the rest of the neighborhood. While this might work if they really went all in on the black comedy angle, the fact that Christmas With the Kranks ends with the film endorsing this behavior leaves me with a particularly sour taste in my mouth.

When I first watched this a few years back I thought for sure it was going to be a C grade Christmas movie, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Tim Allen basically plays the same character that he has been in everything else, but he's hilarious. Jamie Lee Curtis is also sweet and funny. There are moments when it gets fairly ridiculous, but it's all part of the fun. Some heartfelt moments wrap this up with a nice bow.

What a terrible movie this is! 'Christmas with the Kranks' is a Christmas-comedy that is neither funny or about the spirit of Christmas. It is about a terrible neighborhood where Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) want to skip Christmas for a change to go on a cruise. Christmas has cost them six thousand dollars last year, mainly on decoration, so this year they don't do Christmas-stuff and go on the cruise, still saving three thousand dollars. Unfortunately their neighbors disagree. It is a tradition that the whole neighborhood takes part in this holiday; skipping is not an option. The ending of the film basically says that the neighbors are right and that their cruel methods to stop the Kranks from going on the cruise is justified. How stupid can it get?

Well, even more than it already is. Of course the Kranks fail to skip Christmas because their daughter, only away for some weeks to join the Peace Corps in Peru, returns for the holidays together with her new fiancé. Right. So suddenly the Kranks have to do their usual Christmas-things that includes giving a Christmas Eve party. There is quite some hurry needed since the two lovebirds are already on their way. What do you know? All the cruel neighbors are willing to help! In a series of unfortunate events we see how things almost go wrong the entire time and turn out the way they should after all. How surprising.

The movie rolls from one stupid event into another, never funny, most of the time even annoying. It is hard to believe this story seemed funny on paper and that gives us the obvious question of why this movie was even made. Probably because it is about Christmas and could make some money, which it did. If there is one Christmas-movie to avoid in whatever year it definitely is 'Christmas with the Kranks'.

Christmas is a great time for joy and happiness and this film serves that purpose with some easy viewing. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis are fun to watch and it has the odd dose of humour that lands well.

I saw the movie Christmas with the Kranks for the first time in theatres. I now own it. I really liked it. It was a light, funny, laid back movie. I don't know why so many people disliked it. I think that you have to have a certain sense of humor to think it was funny. I thought the plot was very entertaining and yes heartwarming. What's wrong with a heartwarming movie about spreading Christmas joy. Why is it so unrealistic? Is it really impossible anymore for people to be nice to one another? To be thoughtful. I think this movie portrays the values of enjoying the little things and simple things in life and perhaps this is why people automatically think this movie is dumb because they don't enjoy and embrace the little things and therefore they are quick to say these certain situations are unrealistic. All movies are a little unrealistic. So what. Like lord of the rings is realistic? come on folks. lighten up.

What kind of Christmas movie is this? Christmas With the Kranks is not jolly, whimsical, wholesome, or humorous like the typical American Christmas film, but a wretched, loathsome comedy capitalizing on the things the holiday season isn't about such as competition, self-centeredness, cruelty, and worst of all, conformity.

The American Christmas movies fall in three possible categories, the great, the good, and the bad, like most films in specific genres, although it's quickly shortening to two, the good and the bad, with emphasis on the bad. Christmas classics are those such as A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, and White Christmas, which cloud the networks annually, with their cherishable whimsy, and incredibly earnest presence. Christmas trash are films like Christmas With the Kranks and Jack Frost; films that take a contrived, corny idea and make the near-fatal flaw of not satirizing their material and taking them seriously, creating a forced and awkward atmosphere. But this is just a grain of salt compared to the number of problems with this film.

The films pairs Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, two wonderful stars playing two horribly unlikable characters, Luther and Nora Krank. They're a suburban couple who has just sent their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) on a plane after Thanksgiving for a Peace Corps in Peru, leaving both of them to contemplate how to spend the Christmas holiday alone. Luther has a proposal; after spending well over $6,000 on Christmas decorations, he feels they could take a $3,000 cruise and have plenty to show for it. The only catch is that they'd miss Christmas, not decorate for it, and completely overhaul plans to host a party and send Christmas cards.

Seems like a fine idea to me, but the film makes a controversial setup explode by having the neighbors (mainly the neighborhood "king" Vic Frohmeyer, played by Dan Aykroyd) overreact to the idea of the Krank's taking a year off. They are infuriated at their proposal, ostracizing them, manipulating them by excessive caroling, crowding around their house demanding they return "Frost," an iconic staple of the neighborhood. Good lord, this is the kind of thing you do if you discovered noted hate-monger Fred Phelps was your neighbor. Not if you found out your neighbor simply wants to take a year off from Christmas by doing the kind, noble event of taking his wife on a cruise.

The Krank couple is content with fighting them off, until their daughter calls a few days before Christmas and says she can make it home for the holidays with her new Peruvian fiancée. This sends both Luther and Nora into a scurrying state, accentuating the character trait I hate seeing portrayed cartoonishly and that's desperation. Desperation as a form of urgency and poignancy, where one character is genuinely at a loss and trying to do right but is consistently barricaded by unforeseen, unforgiving circumstances is one thing, but being played for laughs is another.

In one terribly depressing sequence, we see Nora Krank, after being informed of her daughter's unexpected arrival, rushes to the grocery store to get hickory honey ham, because it's her daughter's absolute favorite. She races an old woman through the whole store (guess who gets the damn ham?), and then pleas a young couple with an infant to buy the ham off them for larger than the sticker price. Seeing Jamie Lee Curtis (In one what be her final starring role until 2010's You Again, which I hear was roughly the same degree of appalling as this one) desperately succumb to petulant beginning for a damned ham, as if the store didn't carry turkey or normal ham as a substitute, is incredibly unfunny. Then when she finally gets the family to cough up the ham for a large sum of money (after bringing up their kid's future), she is bumped and it rolls down the steep pavement into the middle of the road to be crushed by a sixteen-wheeler. Curtis then leads out a blood-curdling scream similar to the one she released in Carpenter's Halloween, when she had a better reason to shriek.

The nail that drops into the coffin for this film is that it takes the somewhat original idea of portraying the Krank's as non-conformists, but then collectively makes them into the enemy to the point where they give in to the neighbors' orders of celebrating the holidays. Since when did celebrating Christmas have to involve a tree, lights, ornaments, parties, cards, caroling, and neighborly devotion? Since when did the message of being an individual and being unique, things we've been told since birth, be traded for the message of conformity by force? It's appalling to believe this film got past the stage of production, let alone the fact that Chris Columbus found this material acceptable to be placed on screen during the season of love and jolliness. It's also incredibly saddening to hear Columbus was the same man who directed both Home Alone films and the wonderfully potent Goonies. And please don't get me started on the persistent incorporation of unnecessary, grueling animal cruelty. It's unwarranted in almost any movie, but here, it's simply unacceptable.

Christmas With the Kranks contains no laughs, humor, love, or anything resembling that of a competent holiday picture. It drains the talent of its two stars by making both of them succumb to something stupid such as Tim Allen's Luther getting botox, with a terribly unfunny sequence of him trying to eat something when it keeps falling out his mouth, and Jamie Lee Curtis' trying to get a tan in a mall tanning salon and finding herself exposed in the middle of the shop. Not only is this movie terribly not funny, but it's pathetically unconvincing; especially when it tacks on a mawkish ending that just oozes cutesy sentimentality.

Starring: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Dan Aykroyd. Directed by: Joe Roth.

Suitably amusing.

With that said, 'Christmas with the Kranks' certainly starts brighter than it ends. I found fun in the opening portion, especially with the two leads. I didn't like the ending as much, I found it too sappy and untidy. The run time is short though, so that doesn't hamper things much.

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis are enjoyable at the forefront of the film, with Dan Aykroyd joining them in that bracket with his arrival. The rest of the cast are fine. The plot isn't anything majorly fresh, but it entertained me enough. Fun film.

Sigh. I try not to just be a grinch with Christmas films, but sometimes they really don't help themselves.

With their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) away for the first Christmas since she was born, Luther (Tim Allen) and Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to skip their festive period and instead plan to go on a cruise. Much to the annoyance of their neighbourhood they forgo decorating their house, their regular donations to charity and the Christmas parties. Then, unexpectedly on Christmas Eve, Blair decides to come home, so the pair desperately try to reinstate Christmas at short notice.

I think I genuinely hated every moment of this tedious, witless, experience. The cast was pretty impressive, Dan Aykroyd, M Emmet Walsh, Felicity Huffman and Cheech Marin all appear but the performances aren't. Nobody except Allen and Curtis really do anything that awful (and there's some terrible slapstick foisted on both of them) - but by the same token its really bland, particularly when someone like Dan Aykroyd initially threatens to do something interesting with his character. The cast, however, is pretty much all the film had going for it. Despite being written by Jon Grisham, it's a tedious and disjointed story and one that only gets more and more preposterous and random as it runs on. It's quite badly made too, with the occasional moment of awful CGI and then there's one of the worst Christmas songs I've ever heard over the end credits.

It's an odd movie message wise too. Generally, films have more of a "Christmas is not about the superficial stuff" theme, but here it appears to be more of a "conform or you are worthless" premise. That's a minor quibble though in a largely unpalletable mix of unfunny comedy and unearned heart.

Never again.

One of the worst movies ever made.

It's not funny. It doesn't make sense. It makes you feel lousy about Christmas. It wastes a number of talented actors. Many $ millions were wasted making this movie, money that would have been better spent cleaning gum off sidewalks.

When I watched it at a theater, I became furious. I wanted to demand my money back - life a defective product.

Anyone praising this movie - or saying this review isn't helpful - is a paid studio plant.

Don't waste your time or money. You have been warned.

With so many Christmas movies out there its's hard to find a good one sometimes. My family and I really enjoy watching this movie during the Christmas Holidays. Tim Allan and Jamie Lee did a great job together making you laugh all the way through. They have great chemistry together making you feel their relationship as real while jiving off of each other to make a funny atmosphere. The storyline is simple and perhaps cliché as it is predictable, but aren't most Christmas films? I liked that this one wasn't too serious but instead brought a comedic feel.

"Christmas with the Kranks" deserves a place among not only the worst holiday movies ever made, but one of the worst of all time in ANY genre.

The story closely follows the novel by John Grisham. The book itself is challenged from the get-go because it employs a formula which is all too familiar among holiday fare: the man who has lost his enthusiasm for the Christmas season but eventually goes through a personal redemption which restores his spirit. It is a theme that has been visited by everyone from Charles Dickens to Dr. Seuss, and so needs a lot of creativity and hard work to appear original. Unfortunately, Grisham"s plot followed a very predictable course and the result is a tale that is so tiresome that you can even sense the actors and the director of the film version were just as completely bored by the premise as most viewers will be.

The story also suffers from the assumption that a family not blatantly participating in outdoor lighting, greeting card sending, party-throwing, etc. would be branded and immediately set apart as rejects of their local society. I don't know about the neighborhood where John Grisham lives, but in my midwest suburb, most of the houses don't even bother to decorate at all. Yet I don't see neighborhood protests occurring every Christmas season. Further, in an age when Nativity scenes are routinely banned from public display and use of the word "Christmas" itself is discouraged as politically incorrect, it is hard to believe there would be such widespread condemnation of one family's decision to "skip Christmas" so they can go on a Caribbean cruise.

Having read the book, I was curious to see if the movie version improved upon the sub-par story. It is much, much worse. The development of the main character, Luther Krank (played by Tim Allen), into a man who is tired of the Christmas grind went too fast in the book and in the movie is barely established at all. In fact, we are led to believe it all comes about after one scene in which Luther makes a dash into a specialty foods store in the pouring rain to pick up a couple of items for his wife. What passes for creative slapstick at this time is Luther getting splashed by a car and his foot being submerged in a watery pothole.

Brace yourself, because that is about as original as the pranks in this film get.

While the main characters - Luther, and his wife, Nora (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) are hardly given any time to get INTO character, the character of the neighbors, and the Kranks' relationship to them is given none. It is almost as if the screenplay was written assuming the viewer had read Grisham's book and could fill in all the blanks. Hence, the much needed dynamic tension between the neighbors and the Kranks in order to establish some of the comedy is non-existent. Without build-up or justification, the animosity the neighbors have for the Kranks is forced, untrue, and very unfunny.

It is unsettling to watch highly paid actors go through the motions, looking as tired as the story. It is as if they themselves had no faith in the film, and just couldn't wait to get it done and over with. Ditto for the director. I can just visualize the director saying, "Okay, Tim, Jaimie Lee. One take and let's move on to the next one."

Even the cinematography looks tired and passionless. It appears as if even the outdoor scenes were filmed in a brightly lit studio. The story ached for a wide angle or bird's-eye panorama of the neighborhood to emphasize the Kranks' lack of participation with the lighting displays but we never see such a view. In addition, the scenery itself is so brightly lit you can hardly tell a difference between the Kranks' "dark" undecorated house and the well-lit homes of his neighbors.

When a comedy falls this flat it is not pretty. Especially when the script tries to inject some instant pathos at the last scene! Ironically, Luther's "conversion" into a caring person, a scene that is intended to be moving, may be the most laughable aspect of a film that is entirely contrived and more pathetic than anything else.

This movie is amazing, funny, and overall enjoyable!!

I disagree with the critics on this one. I thought Christmas with the Kranks was quite hilarious and ignored the sappy meaning of Christmas theme until the final 20 minutes. However once the movie reached that portion of the movie it slowed down painfully and left a sour taste in my mouth.

The story is pretty basic, Blair Krank, played by Julie Gonzalo (Freaky Friday,) joins the Peace Corp. and heads to Peru during the holidays for a full year. The Kranks, Luther, played by Tim Allen (The Santa Clause 1, 2) and Nora, played by Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, True Lies,) decide to boycott Christmas and head to the Caribbean on a cruise, much to the dismay of the neighborhood lead by Vic Frohmeyer, played by Dan Aykroyd (Ghostbusters, 50 first dates.) On Christmas Eve, Blair calls and tells her parents that she is coming home for Christmas with her boyfriend who wants to experience a true American Christmas with parties, snow and all of the trimmings. So it's a race against the clock to see if they can pull it off before she gets home.

Like I said the beginning of the movie is quite hilarious. The scenes between the Kranks and their neighbors who want them to celebrate Christmas are the funniest I have seen in a Christmas movie since Natl. Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Luther with his Botox is just great.

However, the last 20 minutes of the movie when the Kranks are trying to get the Christmas Eve party together, with the help of the whole neighborhood, drags the movie down a lot., so much in fact that you almost forget the laughter in the first act of the movie. There is also a pointless couple of scenes with a burglar that don't make since.

I thought Tim Allen and Jaime Lee Curtis were cast perfectly for each other, all though at times Curtis reminded me of Patricia Richardson who played Allen's wife in the TV show Home Improvement. Along with Aykroyd, the supporting cast is full of very recognizable faces and some even provide humor to the story.

Overall, I say that this movie is a pretty good Christmas movie. If the last half of the movie was as funny as the first half, and if they would have ignored the whole spirit of Christmas message, this movie would have been as great as my favorite Christmas movie of all time, the afore mentioned National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. However, since it wasn't and they didn't, this movie only gets a pretty good rating. But I still say go see and ignore the rest of those idiot reviewers and listen to me! *This movie review and others can be read at www.bbmc.dockratent.com*

... take your kids to see Christmas with the Kranks, the true classic of the holiday season! The film follows Luther Krank (played by everyone's favorite everyman Tim Allen) in his misadventures involving the holiday known as Christmas. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Nora Morgenstern-Krank, a successful lawyer who joins her husband in his boycott of Christmas.

Zaniness is abound in this high-flying rip-roaring send-up of the classic holiday farce. Dan Aykroyd is perfect in his role as Vic Frohmeyer, a sadistic midwestern Christian bent on imposing his red-state values of Community on the libertarian Krank family. Some 'frohmeyer' he is!

This film had all the laughs of The Santa Claus II, plus Dan Aykroyd.

7/10