CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS

REVIEWED BY CATIE BROOKE

Our rating: 4 out of 5

Because of: mild crude humor, thematic elements

Rated:

It's the day after Thanksgiving. 

"The busiest time of year to travel," Luther Krank (Tim Allen) tells his wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) and his daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) as they accompany their daughter to the airport. Blair is going with the Peace Corp to South America. Plans are she won't be home for Christmas. After seeing her off, Luther and Nora find themselves traveling home -- but not without a stop to Chips, a grocery store in the city with top-notch prices. Nora must have white chocolate and pistachios and it can't wait. Reluctantly Luther gets out of his car in the pouring rain to please his wife. He comes back minutes later soaked with only pistachios. Nora tells Luther he should have asked the butcher where the white chocolate was. Again he goes into Chips and comes out with the most needed chocolate. 

While at Chips, Luther had seen a billboard for a cruise. The idea of skipping Christmas to go on a vacation appeals to him. Think of all the money he and Nora could save! Last year they spent $6,100 for the whole Christmas thing, this year they could spend just $3,000, nothing more. But this does not agree with Nora's plans. She wants to make her annual donations to the church and local charities. After a long, tense silence, Luther agrees and the cruise is planned. But getting away from neighborhood traditions is much harder than either anticipated. There's Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd), who heads up a party of men to put up "Frosty" on all the houses on their street. There are the cookies and the gift cards and the postal deliveries and high expectations, decorations and trees and Christmas cheer in every direction. 

Trying to keep the Christmas cheer in their lives while avoiding all traditions and contending with their new diet, sun tanning experiences, and chaos at the store, the Kranks are about to have the best and worst Christmas of their lives when at the last minute, Blair decides to come home. Objectionable content was limited to small things. The associate who works at the tanning shop shows some cleavage. After Nora knocks her head on the tanning bed she runs to the front of the tanning shop in her bikini. Luther finds out she is hurt and comes to the front looking for Nora in a Speedo. 

When Nora receives a phone call from Blair announcing she'll be home for Christmas Nora tells Luther to get his brown butt downstairs. Language was D**n, H*ll, and God's name was taken in vain, all of which I heard only once. I was very surprised about this as the book version has much more foul language. (Christmas with the Kranks is based off the novel Surviving Christmas by John Grisham.) I feel that this movie stayed very close to the book but has its own charm. It was a very heartwarming and excellent Christmas film and a great outing for families during the holiday season.