Christmas with the Kranks is a 2004 American
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by
Joe RothJoe Roth is an American film executive, producer and film director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1987 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox , Caravan Pictures , and Walt Disney Studios before founding Revolution Studios in 2000.-Life and career:Roth was born in New York, New York,...
and starring
Tim AllenTim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...
and
Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
. The screenplay by
Chris ColumbusChristopher Joseph "Chris" Columbus is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Columbus had his largest success with the first two films in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, along with Home Alone, the last...
is based on the 2001 novel
Skipping ChristmasSkipping Christmas is a comedy novel by John Grisham. It was published by Doubleday on November 6, 2001 and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list on December 9....
by
John GrishamJohn Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
.
Plot
After Luther (
Tim AllenTim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...
) and Nora Krank (
Jamie Lee CurtisJamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
) see their daughter, Blair (
Julie GonzaloJulie Gonzalo is an Argentine-American actress. She is known for her roles as Parker Lee in Veronica Mars, Shelby in A Cinderella Story and Maggie Dekker in Eli Stone. She has been in two movies with Chad Michael Murray: Freaky Friday and A Cinderella Story...
) depart for a
Peace CorpsThe Peace Corps is an American volunteer program run by the United States Government, as well as a government agency of the same name. The mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand US culture, and helping...
assignment in
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
on the Sunday following
ThanksgivingThanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
,
empty nest syndromeEmpty nest syndrome is a general feeling of loneliness that parents or guardians may feel when one or more of their children leave home; it is more common in women...
sets in. Luther calculates the couple spent $6,132 during the previous year's holiday season and, not looking forward to celebrating Christmas without their daughter, he suggests they invest the money usually spent on decorations, gifts, and entertainment and treat themselves to a ten-day
CaribbeanThe Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
cruise instead. Skeptical at first, Nora finally agrees under the condition that they still give a donation to the church and Childrens Hospital. Luther tries to refuse but finally agrees and they begin planning the trip.
The Kranks are amazed to discover they are considered
pariahsA pariah state is one whose conduct is considered to be out of line with international norms of behavior. This term is closely related to the term rogue state.-Definitions:...
as a result of their decision. Luther's co-workers think he has become
Ebenezer ScroogeEbenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
when he gives all his employees letters that state about his Christmas boycott, local stationer Aubie is distressed to lose the couple's order for their engraved greeting cards and
Christmas EveChristmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
party invitations, the
Boy ScoutA Scout is a boy or a girl, usually 11 to 18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement. Because of the large age and development span, many Scouting associations have split this age group into a junior and a senior section...
troop is upset and angered when the Kranks refuse to purchase one of their
Christmas treeThe Christmas tree is a decorated evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, and a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas. The tradition of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas started in Livonia and Germany in the 16th century...
s to help the scouts make enough money for a camporee, and the police are stunned to discover they won't be buying this year's calendar from them. Most vocal in their objections are neighbors Vic Frohmeyer (
Dan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
) and Walt Scheel (
M. Emmet WalshMichael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent...
). Vic, who's the unelected leader of the street, organizes a campaign to force the Kranks to decorate their home so Hemlock Street won't lose the coveted award for best decorations. Walt doesn't seem to like Luther, so his efforts are primarily personal. However, it is revealed that Walt's wife Bev is suffering from a serious illness, perhaps dampening his holiday spirits. Children picket, neighbors constantly call, and
Christmas carolA Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
ers try to revive the Kranks' holiday spirit by singing on their lawn which Luther stops them by freezing his sidewalk. Even the newspaper gets into the act by publishing a front page story complete with a photograph of the unlit Krank house and states that the Kranks' street has lost the prize and won sixth place because of how Luther and Nora refused to decorate their house. Still, Luther and Nora continue to stand their ground.
The two are in the process of packing on Christmas Eve morning when they receive a call from Blair, who announces she's at
Miami International AirportMiami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the South Florida area...
, en route home with her Peruvian fiancé as a surprise for her parents. She's anxious to introduce Enrique to her family's holiday traditions, and when she asks if they're having their usual party that night, a panicked Nora says yes, much to Luther's dismay. Comic chaos ensues as the couple finds themselves trying to decorate the house and coordinate a party with only twelve hours to spare before their daughter and future son-in-law arrive.
While Nora scrambles to find food, especially Blair's favorite ham, Luther buys a tree from the Boy Scouts but they only have one left; a dead, ugly, non-green tree. Luther buys it anyway but rejects it by throwing it in his backyard. While Vic's children picket at Luther's house, Luther arranges to borrow the tree of a neighbor who is going away for a couple of days. He and Vic's son, Spike, try to transport it across the street on Spike's Radio Flyer wagon, only for the neighbors to confuse this to be Luther stealing the family's Christmas tree, and to be stopped by the police, who assume they have stopped a robbery in progress. Nora comes home enraged at Luther for making the Christmas tree a "Disaster" and how she had to buy "Smoked Trout" to replace the honey Ham (Because the Ham rolled into the street and got smashed by a truck). Once it is established why Luther is trying frantically to decorate his home, the neighbors come out full force to help him and Nora ready it for Blair. Blair calls to say she landed from Miami. Luther tries to answer the phone first so he can send Blair back to Peru, but fails; Nora beats him to it.
After giving everybody including Blair and Enrique, an unthankful and non-friendly toast, Luther tries to convince Nora to accept the cruise when she confronts him for the toast, but she refuses, disgusted that he isn't happy that Blair's home. Luther sadly slips out of the house and goes across the street to the Scheel home. Bev's
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, once in remission, has returned and, knowing this may be their last holiday together, Luther insists they take the cruise in place of him and Nora, going so far as to offer to take care of their hated cat, Muffles. At first they decline, but ultimately they accept his generosity, and Luther, whose holiday spirit has been renewed, realizes that skipping Christmas wasn't as good an idea as he had originally thought.
Cast
- Tim Allen
Tim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...
- Luther Krank, the Main Protagonist of the film, who plans to skip Christmas with a wonderful cruise making him be believed by all his employees, as part of a running gagA running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
to be "Ebenezer Scrooge" and is taunted by his neighbors to accept Christmas.
- Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many...
- Nora Krank, the Deuteragonist of the film. Luther's wife who isn't pleased with the cruise idea and gets disappointed when Luther forces her to suffer the most irritating ways when the neighbors try to taunt Luther to accept Christmas and when Luther refuses the Christmas offers.
- Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
- Vic Frohmeyer, the Kranks' neighbor who does everything in his power to get Luther to accept Christmas. At first he is thought to be the antagonist but he reveals he just wants what is best for the neighborhood.
- M. Emmet Walsh
Michael Emmet Walsh is an American actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions.-Life and career:Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, New York, the son of Agnes Kathrine and Harry Maurice Walsh, Sr., a customs agent...
- Walt Scheel, a major neighbor of the Kranks who doesn't get along with Luther very well. He refers to Luther as "Old man" because he doesn't want to admit he is older than Luther.
- Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz is an American stage and television actress.-Life and career:Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker....
- Bev Scheel, Walt's dying wife.
- Erik Per Sullivan
Erik Per Sullivan is an American actor best known for his role as Dewey, the younger brother to middle child Malcolm, on the FOX series, Malcolm in the Middle which was on air for 6 years.-Personal life:...
- Spike Frohmeyer, Frohmeyer's kid who joins in to taunt Luther to accept Christmas.
- Cheech Marin
Richard Anthony "Cheech" Marin is an American comedian, actor and writer who gained recognition as part of the comedy act Cheech & Chong during the 1970s and early 1980s, and as Don Johnson's partner, Insp. Joe Dominguez on Nash Bridges...
- Officer Salino, a minor character who drives Blair home.
- Jake Busey
William Jacob "Jake" Busey is an American actor, musician and film producer. He is sometimes credited as "Jacob Busey" or "William Busey".-Personal life:...
- Officer Treen, a Minor character and friend of Salino.
- Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
- Marty, a man who is actually Santa ClausSanta Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
and seems at first to know everybody even though he does not meet them.
- Tom Poston
Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...
- Father Zabriskie, a Church priest.
- Kim Rhodes
Kimberly "Kim" Rhodes is an American actress, who portrayed the role of "Cindy Harrison" on two different soap opera series, Another World and As the World Turns, as well as Carey Martin in the Disney Channel sitcom The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Suite Life on Deck, where she played the...
- Julie, Luther's employee
- Arden Myrin
Arden Myrin is an American comedian and actress known for her role on the television show MADtv.-Early years:Myrin was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, a seaside fishing village. She was the younger of two children; her father was an accountant, and her mother was a real estate agent. As a...
- Daisy
- Julie Gonzalo
Julie Gonzalo is an Argentine-American actress. She is known for her roles as Parker Lee in Veronica Mars, Shelby in A Cinderella Story and Maggie Dekker in Eli Stone. She has been in two movies with Chad Michael Murray: Freaky Friday and A Cinderella Story...
- Blair Krank, the Krank's daughter
- René Lavan
René Lavan is a Cuban-American actor.Lavan was born in Artemisa, Havana Province, Cuba. In 1980, at the age of 11, he was part of the Mariel Boatlift. In 1996, he appeared as Gustavo in the acclaimed independent film Azucar Amarga directed by Leon Ichaso...
- Enrique Decardenal, Blair's fiance.
- Patrick Breen
Joseph Patrick Breen is an American actor. He has acted primarily on TV but has also appeared in numerous films, as well as on Broadway and Off Broadway...
- Aubie, a stationier who gets upset by Nora not ordering her annual Christmas cards and invitations
- Caroline Rhea
Caroline Gilchrist Rhea is a Canadian stand-up comedian and actress who was the original host of the reality television show The Biggest Loser on NBC until she was replaced by Alison Sweeney after the end of the third season...
- Candi, Another friend of Nora's who is dismayed when Nora refuses to make Christmas cards for them.
- Felicity Huffman
Felicity Kendall Huffman is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as executive producer Dana Whitaker on the ABC television show Sports Night , which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination, and as hectic supermom Lynette Scavo on the ABC show Desperate...
- Merry, a friend of Nora's.
- Alethea McGrath
Alethea McGrath is an Australian actress who played the role of Jocasta Nu in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. She is also widely known for her roles on television, playing Dot Farrar in Prisoner and two parts in Neighbours: Mary Crombie from 1989 to 1990 and Lilly Madigan in 1998...
- old woman (uncredited), a savage woman who takes the last ham favorite of Blair's and taunts Nora by saying "Happy Holidays" and grins at her. She is seen at the Kranks' Party.
- Kevin Chamberlin
- Life :Chamberlin was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Moorestown Township, New Jersey, moving there as a nine-year old. Chamberlin graduated from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting.- Career :...
- Duke Scanlon, a Boy Scout leader that is kind and compassionate towards the Kranks but is disappointed when they refuse to support the Boy Scouts by buying a Christmas tree and when Luther smugly tells them about the cruise he and his wife want to go on.
Production
Some exteriors were shot on location in
VancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and
Los AngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Interiors were filmed at
Culver StudiosThe Culver Studios is a historic Colonial-styled movie studio located at 9336 W. Washington Blvd., in Culver City, California. It was the site of filming for Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane and other classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age...
and
Downey StudiosThe Downey Studios is a production studio in Downey, California. The studio features of indoor and outdoor production space including a building and a 250,000 sq/ft building which is home of the largest indoor water tank in North America...
. Because of weather concerns, the original plan to film in the
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
suburbssubUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
was nixed in favor of constructing the Hemlock Street set in the parking lot of a former
BoeingThe Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
factory.
The
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
features many holiday
standardsIn music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...
, including "
Jingle Bell Rock"Jingle Bell Rock" is the name of a popular Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas time since then. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal , and James Ross Boothe...
" by
Brenda LeeBrenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
; "
Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerRudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer with a glowing red nose. He is popularly known as "Santa's 9th Reindeer" and, when depicted, is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it illuminates the team's path through...
" by
Billy MayWilliam E. "Billy" May was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music, for The Green Hornet , Batman , and Naked City and collaborated on films, such as Pennies from Heaven , and orchestrated Cocoon, and Cocoon: The Return among...
& His Orchestra with vocal by
Alvin StollerAlvin Stoller was an American jazz drummer. Though he seems to have been largely forgotten, he was held in high regard in the 1940s and 1950s...
; "
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is an American Christmas song with music and lyrics by Tommie Connor.The original recording by Jimmy Boyd on 15 July 1952 when he was 13 reached #1 on the Billboard charts in December 1952, and on the Cash Box chart at the beginning of the following year...
" by Eddie Dunstedter; "
White Christmas"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
" by
Dean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
; "
Frosty the Snowman"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" the previous year; Rollins and Nelson shipped the...
" by Steve Van Zandt; "
Blue Christmas"Blue Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson. The heart-broken tale of unrequited love during the holidays had long been considered a Christmas staple of country music, having been recorded first by Doye O'Dell in 1948 and popularised by Ernest Tubb the next year...
" by
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
; and "
The Christmas Song"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" by
Ella FitzgeraldElla Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
.
Reception
The film was universally panned by critics. It received a "rotten" rating of 5% on the review aggregator
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, based on 131 reviews. On
MetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the film had an average score of 22 out of 100, based on 33 reviews. Much of the negative reaction stemmed from the movie appearing to vilify the Kranks for their non-conformity, which many agreed was not the appropriate message.
Box office
Despite negative reviews, the film was a box office success. On its opening weekend, it earned $21,570,867 on 3,393 screens, ranking #3 behind
National TreasureThe idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of Romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology which supports the nation as the fundamental unit of human social life, which includes shared...
and
The IncrediblesThe Incredibles is a 2004 American computer-animated action-comedy superhero film about a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers. It was written and directed by Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant of The Simpsons, and was produced by Pixar and distributed by...
. It eventually grossed $96,572,480 worldwide.
Home media
The Region 1 DVD was released by
Sony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
on November 8, 2005. Viewers have the option of watching it in either
anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
or
fullscreenPan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
formats. It has audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in English, French, Thai, and Korean. There are no bonus features.
External links