Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Apologies for the brief hiatus these past few days; I've been busy building a blog to host all my movie reviews and slowly copying over every single review I could find on Facebook.  As nice as Facebook has been, it's not convenient to look up previous reviews unless I start building a bunch of photo albums to corral them.  I'll still post reviews to Facebook, but I will also post a copy to my new blog for easy archive.  You can find it here: https://cobyreviews.blogspot.com.

With that said, let's continue the Christmas Movie Marathon!  Today's film is Christmas with the Kranks (2004).

SYNOPSIS:
The Kranks' daughter goes off to Peru with the Peace Corps, leaving her parents (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) alone for the holiday season.  Deciding to save some money this year, they decide to boycott Christmas and instead go on a Caribbean cruise together.  But with their traditionally selfless donations each year, avoiding their coworkers, neighbors, various charities, and even the police will prove to be a challenge.

REVIEW:
I both love and hate this film.  I love it because it's a Christmas film about learning to be more selfless and help out your fellow man.  I hate it because it promotes the idea that charity and community are more important than your own wants/needs.

This movie would be an excellent propaganda film for Communism.  The Kranks decide to be a little selfish and treat themselves for one holiday.  Save some money, take a romantic tropical vacation, and avoid all the stress of the holidays.  But their community attacks them for wanting something for themselves.  When they don't buy a Christmas tree from the local Boy Scouts, they're shamed for not helping out the children.  When they don't buy Christmas cards from the local shop, a shop attendant chases them down in a restaurant and publicly shames them for skipping out on Christmas.  When they decide not to decorate their house with the standard Frosty the Snowman decoration on their roof, the neighborhood starts a rally in their front yard, chanting for them to "Free Frosty!"  Most of the rallying is led by Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd), who acts as a sort of neighborhood "tough guy."  The Kranks are bullied, harassed, and shamed all through the season.

As someone who is planning a Caribbean cruise around the holidays, I'm kind of upset at the idea that a community can't respect the wishes of a family.  I would hate it if my neighbors shamed me for avoiding Christmas with them.  Everyone should be free to live their life as they see fit, but the Kranks' neighborhood assumes they know what's best for everyone.  And as feel-good as the end of this film was, it just further pushes that "community is everything" message.  I dunno; maybe it's the introvert in me, but I'm not comfortable with my community deciding how I'll donate my money and decorate my house each year.

RECOMMENDATION:
The main cast is full of big-name actors and it's a fun comedy to watch, so I'd recommend checking it out.  But I personally don't agree with its message. I think it had a good idea for a message but didn't portray it very well.  So go watch it for yourself and let me know what you think.