Rather
unexpectedly, "Christmas with the Kranks" is not
a bad film. It is, however, also not a good
film. Where does that leave us? With a
frighteningly average film hindered by a
remarkably silly script by Chris Columbus based
upon a novel by John Grisham called "Skipping
Christmas." I have no idea whether or not this
film is faithful to the novel, and I can't say I
really care. Judging the film on its own merits,
however, I have to note that there were things
in this film that pleased me tremendously but I
found myself repeatedly bothered by the
ludicrous nature of most of the action.
For those who don't know, this film centers
around Luther Krank and his wife Nora, whose
daughter Blair has gone off to Peru with the
Peace Corps and will be spending her first
Christmas away from home. So, when accountant
Luther figures up how much they spent on the
last Christmas he also figures out that for half
that price he can go on a 10-day Caribbean
cruise with his wife. So, they decide to skip
Christmas.
There are, of course, many aspects of this film
that simply don't make sense. The basic premise
of their neighborhood's uproar over the decision
to skip Christmas is never really played off
very well. This uproar results in an
increasingly unbelievable series of events that
begin to border on stupidity. If I had neighbors
this psychotic, I'd have moved long ago and it
wouldn't have taken me "skipping Christmas" to
notice my neighbors were nuts.
Furthermore, both Luther and Nora are downright
mean at times in dealing with this situation and
the all too pat ending comes too abruptly and
just never resonated with me at all.
So, what works here? There are several things
about this film that I enjoyed...though the film
also had the poor timing of being seen directly
after the wonderful "Spanglish." This film
doesn't compare. First, however, I do give some
kudos to the performance of Jamie Lee
Curtis...in recent years, Curtis has been very
outspoken about women accepting their bodies as
they are and has openly expressed regret for
some of the things she did out of vanity. So, a
scene in which the now older, less in shape
Curtis is seen in a bikini at a tanning salon is
actually heartwarming to see. This is a "real"
body and refreshing to see. Curtis also projects
such energy and enthusiasm when dealing with her
daughter Blair that I found myself very moved by
the relationship.
As her husband, Allen was a bit low energy for
my liking but actually came off better in his
more sincere scenes towards the end of the film.
Allen has a sort of gruff looking face, and in
the early scenes when he's rather self-centered
and mean-spirited it sort of crossed a line for
me...I stopped caring about him.
In supporting roles, Dan Aykroyd does a fairly
nice (but typical) job as a nosy, neighborhood
"boss" and decent performances are turned in by
Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, M. Emmet Walsh and
Julie Gonzalo as Blair.
"Christmas with the Kranks" has a killer holiday
soundtrack that held my interest even when the
film didn't...it included all the classics with
some alternative versions thrown in including my
favorites by The Ramones.
"Christmas with the Kranks" is far from a
holiday classic, but it certainly has its
moments of holiday cheer. If you can get past
the below average script, and simply enjoy the
energetic, enthusiastic performance by Jamie Lee
Curtis, the killer soundtrack and the general
goodwill generated by the cast then you may find
yourself enjoying this film a bit more than most
critics would have you think.
©
Written by Richard
Propes
TC Candler's Comment
If I want to
lose any semblance of Christmas spirit, I will
watch "Bad Santa" again. At least that was
funny! "Kranks" is about as big a waste of
time you will spend all throughout the holiday
season.
Jacob
Hall's Comment
N/A
