Photo courtesy of IMDb
‘Christmas with the Kranks’ was released in 2004. It was adopted from the John Grisham novel titled, ‘Skipping Christmas.’

When you scroll through your list of Christmas movies to watch this December, maybe check it twice. Only then you might notice a Joe Roth-directed film titled, “Christmas with the Kranks”.

The holiday classic is led by actors Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. Cheech Marin, Dan Aykroyd and Julie Gonzalo also star in the movie.

The gist of the story is Luther and Nora Krank (Allen and Curtis) want to skip their traditional Christmas in exchange for a trip to the Caribbean instead. But, when their daughter Blair (Gonzalo) decides to come home, the duo have to whip together as close to a normal Christmas as possible and cancel their Caribbean plans in the process.

There are a few moments in the film where side characters are bothered by the Kranks not participating in traditional Christmas tasks whether it’s not donating to the local fire department, not giving Christmas cards or putting up their “Frosty the Snowman”.

This film connects to where we’re at today. It’s unfortunate that in real life people are disgusted with folks just because they choose to shake things up even though they’re not doing anything wrong.

There are also a few scenes in the movie in which Luther Krank and his neighbor Walt Scheel (M. Emmet Walsh) are annoyed with each other. Walt’s wife, Bev, is dealing with a serious disease. She gets along with Luther but, by the end of the movie Luther and Walt are on good terms. Luther ends up giving the Caribbean cruise tickets to Bev and Walt.

This shows that we can find ways to be kind to those who wronged us or may have been unpleasant to us over time. It’s also a reminder for folks to have some Christmas spirit which some have lost either due to greed or maybe they don’t value being nice to others. But, hey I’m sure some people deserve the benefit of the doubt.

I enjoy this movie for several reasons whether it’s Tim Allen’s on-screen presence, the messages in the film or the fact that Santa Claus makes an appearance.

Other notes are Chris Columbus (director of Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone) helped write this movie and the music is by John Debney.

“Christmas with the Kranks” earns a solid B for a grade. It has a runtime of one hour, 39 minutes and is rated PG.

Merry Christmas and enjoy the day.

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Anthony Fiuza is the Lewistown Sentinel sports editor.