WHEN YOU GET TO 'KRANKS' ' NEIGHBORHOOD, TURN.Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer IN SUBURBS across America, the Friday after Thanksgiving is more than feasting on leftovers and getting mauled at the mall. It's the beginning of decorating season. Joe Roth's ``Christmas With the Kranks'' simultaneously celebrates and unintentionally mocks the all-American December tradition of decking walls, roofs, doors and lawns with every symbol of the holiday season and stringing lights on everything stationary within reach of an extension cord. Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ) usually would enthusiastically join that endeavor, but this year daughter Blair (Julie Gonzalo Julie Gonzalo (born September 9, 1981) is an actress born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in Miami, Florida. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Parker Lee in Veronica Mars and Shelby in A Cinderella Story.Gonzalo is a fluent Spanish speaker. ) is off to Peru with the Peace Corps, leaving them empty-nested for Christmas. Luther has figured out that the thousands they usually spend on Christmas - new decorations, gifts, a Christmas Eve A Christmas Eve is a short story by Camillo Boito which appeared in his anthology of decadence and perversity titled Tales of Vanity (sometimes translated as Vain Tales), which also featured his more famous work, Senso. party and, probably, the electric bill - could go instead toward a romantic 10-day Caribbean cruise. Here's the catch: He says they must skip Christmas. The idea initially is blasphemous blas·phe·mous adj. Impiously irreverent. [Middle English blasfemous, from Late Latin blasph to Nora, the sort of woman who whips up white-chocolate confections while wearing a festive holiday vest. But she eventually warms to the idea. Nora still does her volunteer work, but the rest of their traditions are coming undone: no Christmas tree Christmas tree Evergreen tree, usually decorated with lights and ornaments, to celebrate the Christmas season. The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands as symbols of eternal life was common among the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. purchased from the Scouts, no custom cards or engraved en·grave tr.v. en·graved, en·grav·ing, en·graves 1. To carve, cut, or etch into a material: engraved the champion's name on the trophy. 2. invitations from the stationer sta·tion·er n. 1. One that sells stationery. 2. Archaic a. A publisher. b. A bookseller. , no gifts for Luther's office staff. Nothing, though, causes more uproar than the Kranks' lack of spirit in a neighborhood where the obligation to decorate seems to come with the property title. Think Woodland Hills' Candy Cane Lane or another over-the-top neighborhood of your choice. The neighbors on Hemlock hemlock, any tree of the genus Tsuga, coniferous evergreens of the family Pinaceae (pine family) native to North America and Asia. The common hemlock of E North America is T. Street - led by the strident Vic Frohmeyer (Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd CM (born July 1, 1952) is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Canadian/American comedian, actor, screenwriter, and musician. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live ) - are demanding decorations, especially the rooftop Frosty frost·y adj. frost·i·er, frost·i·est 1. Producing or characterized by frost; freezing. See Synonyms at cold. 2. Covered with or as if with frost. 3. Silvery white; hoary. 4. the Snowman seen on every other house. They're determined to make it happen - making the Kranks even more determined that it won't. Then Blair calls the morning of Dec. 24 - she's coming home for Christmas after all! Great news, except for those cruise tickets and the fact that there's no Christmas to come home to. Nora goes into a frenzy preparing for a party no one knows she's having, while Luther is put in charge of the decorating, which amounts to borrowing a tree from a neighbor and trying to mount Frosty on his roof single-handedly - a stunt in this Chris Columbus script that evokes bad memories of the ``Home Alone'' movies. The neighbors ultimately pitch in and get everything ready in time for Blair's homecoming. There are some funny moments, such as Curtis' scene in a mall tanning tanning, process by which skins and hides are converted into leather. Vegetable tanning, a method requiring more than a month even with modern machinery and tanning liquors, employs tannin; its use is shown in Egyptian tomb paintings dating from 3000 B.C. salon and Allen's post-Botox dining experience. But they are too few. In ``Christmas With the Kranks,'' the meanness of Luther Krank and the other residents of Hemlock Street is redeemed by a powerful message: The true meaning of Christmas is having severe stress over preparing for it and bullying the neighbors into using excessive decorations. Sounds like somebody needs to sit through ``A Charlie Brown Christmas'' again. Valerie Kuklenski, (818) 713-3750 valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS - One and one half stars (PG: brief language, suggestive content) Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Tim Allen, Dan Aykroyd, M. Emmet Walsh. Director: Joe Roth. Running time: 1 hr. 38 min. Playing: Wide release. In a nutshell: Luther and Nora Krank plan to skip Christmas since their daughter is away, causing their neighbors to protest. But daughter Blair is coming home after all, so the Kranks must create a Christmas atmosphere in a matter of a few hours. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Tim Allen stars as the patriarch of a family that chooses to skip, and then embrace, the holiday season in ``Christmas With the Kranks.'' (2) Jamie Lee Curtis endures the trials of holiday shopping in ``Christmas With the Kranks.'' |
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