Other Titles • Christmas with the Kranks (2004) • John Grisham's Skipping Christmas • Skipping Christmas • Skipping the Holidays
Synopses for Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
1.
In Revolution Studios' comedy, based on John Grisham's bestselling novel Skipping Christmas, Tim Allen plays Luther Krank, a man who decides to skip Christmas and all the surrounding trappings and go on vacation with his wife Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) instead. But when his daughter decides, at the last minute, to come home for the holidays, he is forced to put Christmas back together.
(28 votes)
2.
After faithfully and happily celebrating Christmas their entire lives, and with their daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo) in Peru to serve a stint in the Peace Corps, Luther (Tim Allen) and Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) Krank are facing the prospect of a very lonely holiday.
One blustery Chicago night, Luther glances longingly at an alluring poster in a travel agency window and pictures himself and Nora basking in the glow of the sun on a Caribbean cruise. What if this Christmas there was no tree, no holiday lights, no fruitcakes, no parties, no decorating, no Christmas?
Though Nora is at first reluctant about going away for the holidays, she soon warms to the idea. But when their neighbors up and down Hemlock Streek find out, they are aghast, especially local busybody Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd). Among the other injured parties are local police officers Salino (Cheech Marin) and Treen (Jake Busey), as well as Luther's neighborhood sparring partner Walt Scheel (M. Emmet Walsh).
The Kranks are skipping Christmas? Unimaginable. Unthinkable. Unbearable. To make matters worse, Luther refuses to put his illuminated Frosty the Snowman on his rooftop. Every house has a Frosty on its rooftop at Christmas. Hemlock Street is famous for it and has won numerous contests sponsored by the local newspaper for its Yuletide decorations.
The battle of wits between the Kranks and their neighbors quickly escalates, threatening the harmony of the community and, yes, the spirit of Christmas itself.
Then, without warning, Luther and Nora get a phone call from Blair. She's coming home for Christmas after all.
Now the Kranks have less than twenty-four hours to get themselves and all the families on Hemlock Street back in the proper Christmas spirit.
(26 votes)
3.
The Kranks have always celebrated a picture-perfect Christmas. But with their only daughter, Blair (Julie Gonzalo), away from home on her Peace Corps assignment, Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Luther (Tim Allen) are suffering from empty nest syndrome and decide to skip Christmas in favor of a Caribbean cruise. But their neighbors, led by Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Akroyd), take Christmas very seriously and are none too happy about the Kranks' boycott. In this neighborhood where every house is decorated to the hilt and has a Frosty on the roof, skipping Christmas is virtually a crime. And just as the Kranks are preparing for their Christmas Day departure, they get a call from their daughter who announces that she is coming home for Christmas after all. Suddenly, all systems are go for their annual Christmas Eve party and a normal--highly festive--holiday. Will the Kranks be able to pull together a perfect Christmas for Blair in just a few hours, or will she discover their plan to skip Christmas? Directed by Joe Roth (AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS) and based on a John Grisham novel, this film also features appearances by Cheech Marin, Caroline Rhea, and Felicity Huffman.
(24 votes)
4.
Slapstick humor gets a full-body workout in Christmas with the Kranks. Critics were unanimous in their derision, and John Grisham must have gnashed his teeth over what studio-boss-turned-director Joe Roth did to his bestselling novel Skipping Christmas, to which this broad-stroked comedy bears little or no resemblance. The title characters are played by Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, who decide to skip Christmas because their daughter's in Peru with the Peace Corps. Thus begins a rabid program of enforced conformity when their neighbors (led by Dan Aykroyd) coerce the Kranks into changing their holiday attitude--a change that comes easily when the daughter announces she'll be home for Christmas after all. Imagine if a suburban lynch mob said "Have a Merry Christmas or we'll kill you," and you'll get some idea of what spending Christmas with the Kranks is really like. And if you laughed at the frozen cat, you're probably on Santa's "naughty" list. --Jeff Shannon
(23 votes)
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