This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 11th, 2007 at 2:41 pm and is filed under C, Christmas Movies, Comedy, Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Joe Roth
Starring: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Aykroyd, M. Emmet Walsh
Now, here is something I’ll bet you didn’t know. The writer of this film, which represents much of the very worst of the Christmas movie genre, is none other than the Ernest Hemmingway of courtroom literature, John Grisham. All I can say about this one, however, Mr. Grisham, is I object. I usually like Tim Allen, but his guy-next-door humor couldn’t save this one. Jamie Lee Curtis overacts and the story is all over the place and largely unconvincing.
Empty nesters, Luther and Nora Krank decide they will save the money and work involved in celebrating Christmas, and head off on a cruise, instead. It seems like a good idea, until they find themselves facing resistance from their neighbors, lead by Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Akkroyd), who find this anti-social behavior unacceptable. Militant tree-selling Boy Scouts, commando carolers, and persistent Frosty fans all make life tricky for the non-conformist couple.
The strong experienced cast here is wasted by a meandering script, that can’t decide if it wants to be edgy or sweet. The idea of suburban characters resisting the status quo is a good one and could have made for a comical, Chocolate War, kind of battle of wills feature, but for dark humor to work, it needs more courage, and a sharper edge, than we have here. The result is a bland, messed up attempt at a formula film.
