Christmas with the Kranks

If you are after a comedy that actually makes you laugh out loud, Christmas with the Kranks is available in Australia on Hoopla, and in the US on YouTube TV and Cinemax Amazon Channel right now. A tight runtime that never overstays its welcome. A 6/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. Tim Allen sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Hoopla.

Part of the current wave of titles people are actually watching, Christmas with the Kranks earns its spot. Christmas with the Kranks does what great comedies rarely manage — it is actually funny, consistently, across the whole run. When their only daughter Blair leaves the family nest, Luther and Nora Krank decide to book an island cruise to beat the yuletide blues and just skip the holidays. But their decision to boycott tradition has the whole neighborhood in an uproar, and when Blair calls on Christmas Eve to announce a surprise visit with her new fiancée, the Kranks have just twelve hours to perform a miracle and pull themselves and their neighbors together to throw the best celebration ever! Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2004. What keeps Christmas with the Kranks from feeling disposable is a cast that clearly understands the material better than the format usually demands. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

For viewers who want something light without wanting something stupid, Christmas with the Kranks respects your intelligence. It stands on its own even without an obvious comparison point. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Tim Allen anchors an ensemble with real chemistry. Genuinely funny, consistently, across the whole run.