Christmas With The Kranks Review

Christmas With The Kranks
A husband and wife attempt to completely avoid the annual holiday, much to the chagrin of their neighbour (Dan Aykroyd) and daughter, who has returned home to celebrate the event.

by Anna Smith |
Published on
Release Date:

21 Dec 2004

Running Time:

99 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Christmas With The Kranks

You'd think that Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis would be able to squeeze a few laughs out of any comedy script they deigned to accept, but this adaptation of John Grisham's novel Skipping Christmas proves otherwise. After their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) leaves home, Luther and Nora Krank (Allen and Curtis) decide to give Christmas celebrations a miss – much to the disgust of their neighbourhood, lead by the fanatically festive Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd).

There's a hint of early promise in the street's attempts to convert them to all things frosty, sparkly and covered in lights, but this is abandoned in favour of comedy so broad it barely dents its targets and a patronising moral conclusion that goes against everything its protagonists originally stood for.

Skipping Christmas begins to seem like an increasingly good idea….
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