Christmas with the Kranks (2004) on Netflix
When Blair Krank leaves for a Peace Corps posting in Peru, her parents Luther and Nora decide to skip Christmas and book a ten-day Caribbean cruise instead. Their neighbors object.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb5.6/1065,878 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes5%
Trailer
Plot summary
Blair Krank leaves Riverside for a Peace Corps posting in Peru, and empty nest syndrome sets in for her parents Luther and Nora Krank. Luther works out what the family spent on the last holiday season and suggests a ten-day Caribbean cruise instead, so the couple decide to skip Christmas. Hemlock Street objects. Vic Frohmeyer, self-proclaimed leader of the street, campaigns to get decorations onto the Krank house, and Walt Scheel objects. Children led by Vic's son Spike want a Frosty the Snowman figure, carolers sing on the lawn, and the newspaper prints a photograph of the unlit house.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Looking for somewhere to build the neighborhood 15 weeks before filming, Stover chose the parking lot of a former Boeing aircraft factory in Downey, California, and hundreds of carpenters, plasterers and painters built what would become the largest exterior set ever for a movie, more than 700 ft long and including 16 houses.
- Joe Roth read the script on a Sunday, bought it on Monday, decided he wanted to direct it on Tuesday and by Friday had cast Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, with pre-production starting the following Monday morning.
- Joe Roth knew about John Grisham's Skipping Christmas before it was published in 2001, because Grisham asked him to read the book in galley form, assuming he could direct a movie based on it.
- Producer Michael Barnathan expected the set to be available afterwards for other movies, television series and commercials, but health complaints from locals over toxic residues and a lack of profit closed the studio in 2012, and it was razed to build a mall.
- The soundtrack was produced and supervised by Steven Van Zandt, who arranged and produced six of the tracks, mixing holiday standards from Dean Martin, Elvis Presley and Ella Fitzgerald with garage rock that critics called a fresh take on Christmas music.
