|
Luther and Nora Krank are your average
middle-of-the-road, living in one of those “red” electoral states of
our country. They are the ideal couple with strong beliefs of home,
hearth and family - especially family. Seems Luther and Nora are
suffering from the holiday blues at the prospect of their first
Christmas without their daughter at home. Now mind you, she’s 23 years
old and off on a Peace Corps mission in South America. (Hey, if this
were my family they’d be having a party that I was gone! Come to think
of it, they are having a party!) But, leave it to Luther to come up with
a sure fire cure for what ails them. The heck with Christmas; let’s
take a Caribbean cruise! Great idea, right? Wrong. Seems the Kranks
forgot to check in with the nosey neighborhood who can’t bear the
thought of one “naked” house on the block; particularly the absence
of one extremely over-sized Tim Tayloresque Frosty the Snowman on the
roof. (Ah, Tim Taylor....you know where this is going!) And as if the
pressure from the neighbors isn’t enough, daughter Blair has the
audacity to call and announce not only is she coming home for the
holidays, she’s bringing her new fiancé Enrique with her. Bound and
determined to now have their annual old-fashioned family Christmas, the
Kranks kick it into high gear as they, er, try to pull a snowman out of
a hat.
Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis star as
Luther and Nora. Talented comedians both, you can’t help but feel
their pain as they try to wrangle a laugh out of one of the poorest
scripts, let alone holiday scripts, to hit the big screen. Allen’s
Luther comes across as nothing more than an over-the-top “Tool Time”
Tim Taylor with over-exaggerated mannerisms, tired old jokes (you know,
the kind your dad tells that you feel obligated to laugh at even though
they aren’t funny) and overall overkill to the point of annoyance.
Jamie Lee Curtis, on the hand, fares a bit better and does a beyond
admirable job of proving that she is still filmdom’s hands down “scream
queen” (in more ways then one - she can still shrill with the best of
them and this performance will make you scream - in pain). The good news
is that their chemistry has an ease much like Allen and TV wife Patricia
Richardson although without the comedic bite. As Blair, Julie Gonzalo is
acceptable but again, the character is a dichotomy of contradictions
which is not her fault. Even Dan Aykroyd who has played beautifully
against Curtis in numerous films and himself is always good for a
guffaw, here plays to the annoying as nosey neighbor and Christmas
cheerleader Vic Frohmeyer. Perhaps a better casting would have been
Aykroyd as Luther and Allen as the nosey neighbor. At least the
chemistry between Curtis and Aykroyd might have carried the film a bit
further. But, I give them all credit for trying to salvage a script
better left for the use of Santa’s reindeer on the roof.
Written by Chris Columbus based on a
novel by John Grisham (if you can believe that), “Kranks” is just
one unfunny movie. (Okay, so my brother Eddie will probably love it; if
he sees it for free.) But for maybe two scenes, the film is ripe with
comedic set-ups that never come to fruition. No follow-through. All are
left hanging like ornaments without a tree branch that just fall flat on
the ground. Scenes seem out of place and with no purpose and nothing is
ever tied up in one neat little package. But even worse is the tired,
forced dialogue that the principals try even harder to push for a laugh.
It makes the film drone on with unfunny insincerity. Making matters even
worse is the sense that somewhere along the way, the red electoral “home,
hearth and family values” sold out to Christmas commercialism under
the guise of “keeping up with the Joneses.”
Director Joe Roth does no better as he
continually turns golden opportunities for some comic brilliance turn
into missed opportunities at the buffet table. Even with its poor script
and dialogue, the film had salvage potential had there been good
direction in weaving scenes together a bit better giving some real
laughs to the project. Instead, what we get is a disingenuous,
disheartened look at Christmas Present that’s enough to make Ebenezer
Scrooge look like Santa Claus.
If you’re looking for the spirit of
Christmas this movie season, head straight for “The Polar Express”
or better yet, for some real Christmas comedy, dust off those “Santa
Clause” DVDs. Now THAT’s some Christmas comedy!
Luther Krank: Tim Allen Nora Krank: Jamie
Lee Curtis Vic Frohmeyer: Dan Aykroyd Walt Scheel: M. Emmet Walsh
Directed by Joe Roth. Written by Chris
Columbus based on a novel by John Grisham. Rated PG.
[ Home ] [ Movie Reviews ] [ Oscars ] [ Film Festivals ] [ Box Office Top Ten ] [ Coming Soon ] [ Studio Links ] [ Other Links ]
|
