Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Don't listen to the negative reviews

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I've seen a lot of stinker movies but this takes the cake. There is no chemistry between any of the characters and the movie never made me laugh. Usually I'm willing to give some leeway to holiday movies, but not this one. I thought it would never end.I blame the poorly written script. There is nothing a director or actors could do to improve it. The movie in contrived and rushed. Every scene seems plastic and one dimensional. I prefer Jingle All The Way more than this movie; and that movie was terrible.

This film is actually based on a John Grisham novel but is a misguided misfire that has little by way of symbolism relating to the Christian meaning of Christmas. For goodness sake you have a Catholic priest hanging round a party on Christmas Eve instead of preparing for midnight mass.Luther Krank (Tim Allen) upsets his neighbourhood as he decides not to take in Christmas festivities and instead go on a Caribbean cruise with his wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) as their daughter has now left home and joined the Peace Corps. His neighbours are upset with this Scrooge like attitude and try to coerce and shame them into celebrating Christmas like decking the halls, buying gifts and putting Frosty the Snowman up on the roof just as everyone else on the street has done.The film gets syrupy and manipulative at the end as their daughter at the last minute decides to spend Christmas with her family and wants to introduce them to her new fiancé. This means succumbing to the commercialisation of Christmas and now at the last minute they need to buy a tree, honey ham and invite everyone around to their party.This is an artificial and uneven film with a mixed message that relies on Home Alone type antics for a few laughs. No surprise there as it is written by Chris Columbus who directed Home Alone 1 & 2 and directed by Joe Roth who was Head of 20th Century Fox when Home Alone 1 & 2 were released.

here is a great cast for a brilliant movie for Xmas with Tim Allen Jamie lee Curtis and Dan aykrod playing perfect this festive fun when their only daughter Blair leaves the family home for the first time the whole krank family don't know what to do Nora and Luther have a neighborhood tradition but without telling any one they decide to book a Holiday cue hilarious and bonkers ideas and tanning one self so the book the cruise to beat their sadness and skip Xmas but when their neighbors find out they go out of their way to give the kranks a piece of their mind and krank up the festivities (sorry about the pun) but Luther up his no Xmas policy to effectiveness like pouring hot cold water over the path freezing the cat he hates giving less money to every one this Xmas but their plan are ruined as their daughter called home for UN announced surprise visit with her new boyfriend the kranks are so surprised that they only have a number of hours to get they House ready so cue a big speech to the head of the neighbors with Santa in his car the turkey being flooded all hell is bracken loose and frosty to be hung out with a great supporting cast to help like Jake busey with a party to be head snow falling there is going to be one hell of AP arty but Luther know who needs his tickets more than he does and does the charitable thing this is a classic Xmas film at 1hr35min 7/10 enjoy the chaos

While "Christmas with the Kranks" is surely an entertaining enough movie, it is not going to be a Christmas classic such as the 1989 "Christmas Vacation" movie. That being said, then it should be stressed that "Christmas with the Kranks" is a wholesome movie that does prove entertaining enough for the entire family.The story is about Luther Krank (played by Tim Allen) and Nora Krank (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) whom are living in a small, tightly-knitted community where the Christmas season is a major event. And when Frank and Nora decides to skip Christmas and go on a cruise the entire neighborhood is turned upside down in disbelief.There are some hilarious moments throughout the movie, and the cast list was really great, having some impressive names on it. Aside from Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, then the movie also had Dan Aykroyd, M. Emmet Walsh, Cheech Marin and Jake Busey on the cast list. So you know what you are getting here, and people do deliver. There are also some good laughs here and there, which do of course add to the overall enjoyment of the movie.But as I said earlier, it will not be a Christmas classic, as in it being a movie that you watch every Christmas. I have just watched it now, and I don't think that I will be making a return trip to watch it again.