Director:
Joe Roth
Cast:
Tim Allen …. Luther Krank
Jamie Lee Curtis …. Nora Krank
Dan Aykroyd …. Vic Frohmeyer
M. Emmet Walsh …. Walt Scheel
Elizabeth Franz …. Bev Scheel
Erik Per Sullivan …. Spike Frohmeyer
Cheech Marin …. Officer Salino
Jake Busey …. Officer Treen
Austin Pendleton …. Umbrella Santa/Marty
Tom Poston …. Father Zabriskie
Julie Gonzalo …. Blair Krank
René Lavan …. Enrique DeCardenal
Caroline Rhea …. Candi
Felicity Huffman …. Merry
Patrick Breen …. Aubie
Adapted from the John Grisham book “Skipping Christmas”, Christmas With The Kranks is a bad attempt at slapstick Christmas humor. It fails miserably.
The writer of Home Alone brings us the story of Luther and Nora Krank, who have sent their daughter Blair to Peru with the Peace Corps. When Christmas time rolls around, Luther decides that he doesn’t want to celebrate because it no longer has meaning. He would rather go on a vacation to the Caribbean. While that would be all well and good, Luther let’s everyone know about it and will not attend a Christmas party, put up any decoration or take part in any Christmas tradition. All of his antics, none of which make you laugh, serve to piss his neighbors off more than anything.
The neighbors, apparently without lives of their own, become spiteful and angry with the turn of events. Without the Kranks’ party, it seems as though the neighbor’s lives just might end. It’s dumb and ridiculous and the antics of the neighbors bore you to tears when they are supposed to make you laugh.
So when their daughter decides to come home for Christmas and brings her new Peruvian fiancée, the Kranks have to make last minute plans and revert everything they’ve done. This is where the fun is supposed to occur I assume. I must have missed it.
Aside from the horrible comedy, the emotional moment of the movie is the revelation that a neighbor’s wife has cancer and may not make it to next Christmas. This never has a real solution and seems to be thrown in there because someone knew how horrible the movie was and tried to tug people’s hearts. No dice.
Jamie Curtis is over the top and not funny at all, to the point where she almost makes your eardrums pop. The rest of the cast wasted their time and talent with something this bad.
Score: 1/10
The Video
Your choice of Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1 or full screen 1.33:1. No transfer problems.
The Audio
English 5.1 and French Dolby Surround. I watched it in English and it sounded find, no scrapes.
The Extras
There is a God. No extras.
Score: 0/10
