Christmas with the Kranks
review by Joan Brasher | posted 1/01/2004
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The Christmas season tends to stress me out. Each Thanksgiving, that anxious knot in my stomach returns as a litany of to-do's floods my brain—buy gifts for family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and the mailman; buy, address and mail holiday cards; pick up Christmas tree; go through attic and find ornaments and Christmas dishes; bake for the office cookie swap; pick up secret Santa gifts for book club gals; order holiday ham; shop for the perfect holiday dress; buy tickets to The Nutcracker; wash sheets in the guest room; choir practice; prep for Angel Tree; check on flights for Grandma; take a Valium …
All right, I'm joking on that last one, but let's face it: The holidays can be stressful. And the magic we enjoyed as children can simply disappear for us busy adults. Sometimes I've considered the option of just skipping the Christmas season entirely.
Tim Allen plays Luther Krank, with an eye on skipping Christmas
And now here's a movie about doing exactly that. Christmas with the Kranks, based on John Grisham's book Skipping Christmas, was right up my alley—but for different reasons than I anticipated. Tim Allen (Home Improvement) plays Luther Krank, a guy who decides to forego Christmas for a sunny cruise to the islands. His reason? His daughter Blair (newcomer Julie Gonzalo) has gone to Peru with the Peace Corps, and won't be home for holidays. Facing an empty nest with wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis), Luther convinces her it would be much easier, and cheaper, to simply skip the whole thing. No Christmas cards, tree or decorations, no parties to plan, no gifts to buy. She agrees, provided she can still donate to her usual charity. The rest of the festivities are off limits. What could be simpler?
But skipping Christmas is not as easy as it sounds, particularly in their close-knit Chicago suburb, where not celebrating the season is simply unthinkable. When the Kranks cancel their Christmas Eve party, and refuse to install their giant illuminated Frosty the Snowman on the roof, hang decorations or donate to the policeman's fund, the neighbors, led by neighborhood "don" Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Akroyd), are put off, to say the least. And when the Kranks start preparing for their cruise with Botox injections and trips to the tanning bed, rumors circulate that the Kranks have lost their minds. Their once-quiet street becomes a battleground as the neighbors pressure the Kranks to resume their normal holiday festivities, putting the very spirit of Christmas itself in peril. The Kranks, meanwhile, are just counting the hours until they can leave for their warmer climes.
Jamie Lee Curtis, as Nora Krank, is also anxious to escape the madeness
But then, a Christmas Eve phone call changes everything. Blair is coming home after all, and she can't wait to introduce her new boyfriend to all of the family's holiday traditions. With only a few hours to pull together a traditional holiday before Blair's plane lands at O'Hare, Nora makes a mad dash for the last holiday ham, while Luther races to the Christmas tree lot where a scrubby, half naked evergreen is all that remains. Will they get everything together in time?
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