CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS REVIEW!!! (12 MOVIES OF CHRISTMAS AT THE DIETRICH!)

Initial release date: November 24, 2004

Studios: Sony-Columbia/Revolution Studios/1492 Pictures

Tagline: Their Christmas will turn the town upside down!

Plot: Finally alone for the holidays, Luther and Nora Krank plan to eschew the Christmas traditions and take a cruise in the Caribbean instead. This doesn’t sit well with their Christmas-obsessed neighbors Vic Frohmeyer and Walt Scheel, who are determined to win the annual “best decorated street” competition, and the Kranks soon finds themselves social outcasts because of their lack of Christmas spirit.

Cast

Tim Allen - Luther Krank

Jamie Lee Curtis - Nora Krank

Dan Aykroyd - Vic Frohmeyer

M. Emmett Walsh - Walt Scheel

Elizabeth Franz - Bev Scheel

Erik Per Sullivan - Spike

Cheech Marin - Officer Salino

Jake Busey - Officer Treen

Austin Pendleton - Umbrella Santa

Tom Poston - Father Zabriskie

Julie Gonzalo - Blair Krank

Rene Lavan - Enrique

Writer: Chris Columbus (Christmas Chronicles 2)

Director: Joe Roth (Freedomland)

Rated PG for brief language and suggestive content (99 minutes)

Now, ‘Christmas with the Kranks’ may not be the best Christmas movie out there. But, there are still some moments that are still very hilarious and heart-warming.

Sure, there are a few parts in this 2004 holiday comedy that can be a little on the bland side. Most of the laughs really kick into high gear when the Kranks find out on Christmas Eve that their only daughter will be coming home for the holidays.

Instead of going away, as planned, they pretty much pull off their version of a Christmas miracle and rush to get everything prepared for their daughter’s arrival and make sure she has a Christmas to come home to. Some of those scenes can be really funny.

Like I said some of the humor can be a little stale and can land flat. But, ‘Christmas with the Kranks’ is still an enjoyable holiday movie for the whole family to see. There is also a few heart-warming moments, such as when their daughter comes home and sees Christmas and the little side-story about the older neighbor’s wife battling cancer again and having Luther giving them their cruise package for the holidays.

‘Christmas with the Kranks’ is available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime through the Starz add-on.

Here are a few interesting tidbits for ‘Christmas with the Kranks’:

• The film is based on John Grisham’s book ‘Skipping Christmas.’ (The original title is seen in the newspaper article after the tanning salon incident). The title was changed to avoid confusion with another 2004 holiday comedy ‘Surviving Christmas.’ Both movies were holiday comedies and got panned by critics.

• During filming, it was reported that the cast and crew had ingested over ten pounds of fake snow.

• Curtis and Aykroyd had previously starred in ‘Trading Places’ and the two ‘My Girl’ movies.

• On its opening weekend, it earned $21.6 million, on 3,393 screens, ranking No. 3 behind ‘National Treasure’ and ‘The Incredibles.’ It eventually grossed $96.6 million worldwide.