Christmas with the Kranks is now dominating streaming charts. The 2004 Christmas comedy stars Tim Allen and relies on the 2001 novel Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, representing a notable departure from the writer’s typical authorized thrillers, resembling A Time to Kill (1989), The Agency (1991), The Pelican Temporary (1992), and The Rainmaker (1995).
Now, 21 years after its launch, Christmas with the Kranks ranks second on HBO Max’s High 10 films in the USA for as we speak, December 17, per FlixPatrol. It ranks beneath It (2017) in first and above a number of different Christmas films – together with Elf, A Christmas Story Christmas, Nationwide Lampoon’s Christmas Trip, and The Polar Specific.
It Chapter Two, Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Faucet, Spinal Faucet II: The Finish Continues, and The Conjuring: Final Rites additionally seem within the High 10 films.
Christmas with the Kranks additionally ranks seventh on HBO Max’s High 10 total chart in the USA, rating beneath TV exhibits like IT: Welcome to Derry, Heated Rivalry, I Love LA, and above the films A Christmas Story, 4 Christmases, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and techniques.
Directed by Joe Roth, with a script written by Chris Columbus (House Alone) primarily based on the John Grisham novel, Christmas with the Kranks stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis as a middle-aged couple who, a lot to their neighbors’ dismay, determine to desert their ordinary vacation festivities after their daughter departs for the Peace Corps, till she instantly proclaims she’s coming dwelling for Christmas.
Along with Emmy nominee Tim Allen (House Enchancment) and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis (Every little thing In all places All at As soon as), the forged additionally consists of Oscar and Emmy nominee Dan Aykroyd (Driving Miss Daisy, Saturday Evening Stay), Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, M. Emmet Walsh, Kevin Chamberlin, Elizabeth Franz, Austin Pendleton, Caroline Rhea, Patrick Breen, and Felicity Huffman.
With an abysmal 5% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Christmas with the Kranks was panned by critics as a joyless and loud comedy that in the end celebrates conformity reasonably than creativity or cheer. It wasn’t acquired significantly better by basic audiences, leading to a 40% rating from that group, although it was a reasonable box-office success that grossed $96.6 million worldwide in opposition to its $60 million finances.
Nevertheless, in recent times, Christmas with the Kranks has been reappraised extra positively by critics, together with ScreenRant‘s Kayla Turner who, in 2023, named it one of the underrated Christmas films, calling it an “underappreciated trendy Christmas traditional” and a “hilarious satire on the insanity of societal Christmas expectations,” noting that it delivers an “clever mix of well timed humor and a heartwarming messaging concerning the significance of connection over commercialism.”
- Launch Date
-
November 24, 2004
- Runtime
-
99 minutes
- Director
-
Joe Roth
- Writers
-
Chris Columbus
- Producers
-
Chris Columbus, Mark Radcliffe, Michael Barnathan, Allegra Clegg