message in the movies By Rev. Bruce Batchelor Glader

                   
Christmas with the Kranks   Rated PG
Directed by Joe Roth. Starring Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis

Photo © Revolution Studios
Even though the rampant consumerism and forced cheerfulness of the Christmas season can become not only irritating but also distracting to the true message of Christ’s birth, I find myself making the most of it, nevertheless, and there are always blessings to be found.  But what if a couple just decided to skip Christmas and all of its hassles, spending the money on a getaway cruise instead?  In John Grisham’s satirical novel Skipping Christmas (the basis for this film) Luther and Nora Krank decide to forgo the holidays and run into outright opposition from co-workers and a vigilant neighborhood that prides itself on being the most Christmassy of all, with giant Frosty snowmen atop every roof.  There is a basis for a good Christmas movie here, with room for both a critique of holiday excess and moments of redemption at the end.  But when you stir together the sloppy and unfocused direction of Joe Roth and a desperate screenplay by Chris Columbus (which not only borrows from the Home Alone films but also National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), it’s more so-so-so than ho-ho-ho. Even though Tim Allen isn’t much of an actor, I do enjoy his Everyman qualities and he is a good choice to play Luther Krank.  It is the usually dependable Jamie Lee Curtis who comes up short, with a shrill and unfocused caricature of a suburban housewife.  The film also makes a big deal about procuring that “special Hickory Honey canned ham”.  It must be special indeed.  I have lived for more than 50 years and I have never tasted a canned ham worthy of being called anything special.  This movie isn’t special, either.  There are enough laughs to make a matinee viewing a pleasurable experience, but this is one Christmas film whose freshness date will expire by the end of the month.

Pitchfork Rating: Two halos (There’s a positive message about Christmas somewhere in this well-meaning but artless holiday movie.) Two pitchforks. (Cartoon violence, one silly and unnecessary scene of sexual misunderstanding.)

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