An adaptation of John Grisham's amiable short novel Skipping Christmas that has been violently stripped of any semblance of humanity, this mind-numbingly humorless, barrel-bottom sitcom may well be the worst Christmas movie ever made. Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis star as a couple whose newly adult daughter won't be home for Christmas, so they plan to bow out of the festivities altogether and take a cruise. Apparently, this amounts to a social offense of the first order in their bogus, plot-device suburbia, and soon an army of neighbors are beating down their door like some yuletide Gestapo, angrily demanding they put up their seasonal decorations, forcing Allen into a Scrooge-like defense. Even worse, when their daughter changes her mind, Curtis flies into a panic trying to undo every anti-Christmas move instead of just telling her they've made other plans. Directed by Joe Roth (America's Sweethearts) with insufferably out-of-whack comic sensibilities, Christmas With the Kranks hits a new low in lethargic, tediously telegraphed holiday gags, then gets even worse when it goes off topic (such as a pointless five-minute bit about Allen getting Botox injections). Ho-ho-horrible. Not recommended. (R. Blackwelder)
Christmas With the Kranks
Sony, 94 min., PG, VHS: $54.99, DVD: $28.95, Mar. 8 Volume 20, Issue 6
Christmas With the Kranks
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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