History Film / ChristmasWithTheKranks

** Luther is upset that he and Nora couldn't make the Cruise, but suggests to Nora they could still make it now that they're having their big party, and could give Blair and Enrique time together at their hometown. While Nora rightfully calls him out for obsessing after everyone helped them in spite of the whole feud and his daughter flew back to be with them, he's not wrong to try and compromise. He bought the trip with no insurance, so he can't refund it, Blair and her fiancé are already doing the celebrating and might like some time alone together, and the neighbors that have been horrible to them are now getting their way by pure coincidence.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Pretty much the ''whole reason'' the movie falls apart. Yes, Christmas is obviously a big deal in this community, but Luther and Nora are quite right in pointing out that they spend over $6,000 on it every year, largely to make their daughter happy--and now that she's gone, there's really no need to put in that much cash for something they don't really want or need to do.

* SantaClausmas:
** Excepting a couple appearances by a Catholic priest [[ArtisticLicenseReligion who isn't officiating Midnight Mass]], there's no indication at all in the story that Christmas just might have any religious component to it.
** Roger Ebert noted in his review that none of the houses have crucifixes or nativities on their front yards, which is somewhat expected in a typical suburban neighborhood. Ebert suspected that showing even the slight implication of religious people forcing their views on other people's throats in the movie would offend conservative Christian groups, so the filmmakers decided to play it safe and have every house display secular decorations. Ebert wrote in [[https://www.rogerebert.com/answer-man/star-power-overrides-ethnicity a later Q&A]] that these same religious groups endorsed the film, which he found both ironic and (given the movie's premise) disturbing.

* {{Hypocrite}}: When the Kranks finally cave and and try to set up their Christmas celebrations, all of the neighbors give them a hard time over it, acting like the wounded party after harassing them continuously for weeks. Special mention goes to Vic, who has to talk the community into helping them while calling Luther "a spoiled, selfish little baby."

* TitleDrop: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; there are various scenes that title drop the book it's based on, ''Skipping Christmas'', but none for the film's official title.

** Since they already lost the contest, coming in a distant fourth due to the dark Krank house, they had no reason to decorate the house otherwise. The kids were pestering Luther just to bust on him.

Blair Krank (Creator/JulieGonzalo), the daughter of Luther and Nora Krank (Creator/TimAllen and Creator/JamieLeeCurtis), departs for a Peace Corps assignment in Peru, where she'll be during the holidays. The Kranks, along with their entire neighborhood, have always made a huge deal of celebrating Christmas with decorations and parties, but after their daughter leaves and they realize they spent over $6,000 last year to celebrate, this year they elect to go on a cruise in the Caribbean instead. They won't be celebrating Christmas this year like they'd always done previously — no decorations, no parties, no gifts, no fiberglass snowman on their roof...

Well, the neighbors aren't pleased about this. More specifically, they're ''pissed''. Even more specifically, they refuse to take no for an answer, bullying the Kranks relentlessly to try forcing them into relenting and celebrating:
* They scrutinize the Kranks, referring to Luther as "Scrooge".
* A group of kids threaten to break into their house to steal Frosty and put him on their roof against their will for them...and when they fail, stand on their lawn repeatedly chanting "free Frosty, free Frosty!", additionally ringing them on their phone seven times a day.
* A group of carolers come to their house every night, peer in their windows, and holler at the top of their lungs for hours.
* Eventually, even the neighborhood police turn on the Kranks.

In the end, Blair rings and informs them that she's coming home for Christmas with a new fiancé [[ContrivedCoincidence who has never celebrated it before and wants to know what it's like]], forcing Luther and Nora to admit to their neighbors that they were "wrong" and "being selfish"...so they help them scramble a Christmas party together at the last minute. The closing shot is of the two embracing and agreeing that skipping Christmas was a bad idea.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Father Zabriskie is a guest at the party at the end. As Creator/RogerEbert noted, Catholic priests don't get Christmas Eve off, since [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_Mass Midnight Mass]] is a major event in Roman Catholicism.

* TheBadGuyWins: Downplayed. The Kranks' neighbors finally pressure them into joining their Stepford Christmas, but they still bully them after they cave after their refusal to decorate causes them to lose the display contest. This changes near the end, after Vic rallies the neighbors to help them set up their Christmas party for Blair (for her sake instead of theirs).

* BrokenAesop: The film waffles between Luther being out of line and Luther being tremendously put upon by his lunatic neighbors before ultimately siding with the neighbors against Luther. This puts it in the odd position of churning out bizarre morals like Christmas culture is stilting and conformist, but it's okay if it's done to please someone else to make it special, or like it's wrong to forego a lonely, empty Christmas for a cruise, but it's okay to give those cruise tickets to neighbors so ''they'' can forego their own lonely, empty Christmas.
* ChristmasCarolers: A group of them in Dickensian costumes show up, and are egged on by the neighbors to keep bothering the Kranks. They do not do anything wrong really, but Luther's way of dealing with them, which has Nora get caught up slipping while trying to help them, is a major step in him taking things too far.
* CluelessAesop: Luther is a snobby jerk, but a jerk surrounded by lunatics who judge, pressure, and even extort him when the opportunity arises. This makes it very difficult to side against him, but his actions as things go on make it hard to root for him as well.
* TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong: The entire plot. The Kranks decide to not celebrate Christmas. They're "wrong" according to their neighbors, who proceed to harass them until they do. The Kranks complain and they only become "more wrong".

* FanDisservice: The tanning scene gives us the sight of Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis with minimal clothing.
* {{Fanservice}}: On the flip side, the tanning scene gives us the sight of Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis with minimal clothing, both of them looking quite good for their ages.
* AFriendInNeed: Vic comes across as this. While he and Luthor aren't exactly friends, once he finds out what is going on, he wastes no time rallying the neighbors to all pitch in and help out. He even plays the ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections card when giving marching orders to the police to pick up Blair from the airport so the Kranks can use the time getting everything ready.
--->'''Cop:''' I don't think we can do that.
--->'''Vic:''' Shall I call the Chief?
** Subverted in that Vic rallies the neighbors by saying they're not doing for Luther, but for Blair, who baby-sat most of their kids and is now serving in the Peace Corps, ignoring his own hand in driving the Kranks in the opposite direction of celebrating.

* TheGrinch: What the Kranks are seen as by their neighbors. Multiple scenes make it look like Luther really is one of these, too.

* AFriendInNeed: Vic comes across as this. While he and Luthor aren't exactly friends, once he finds out what is going on, he wastes no time rallying the neighbors to all pitch in and help out. He even gives marching orders to the police to pick up Blair from the airport so the Kranks can use the time getting everything ready.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Blair's college friend Enrique was on the same assignment as her, leading to them falling in love and getting engaged, and Blair wanting to take him home to show him all their traditions. This happens just as Nora gets on board for the cruise, convincing her to stay and try to make a good Christmas last minute.

* CrappyHolidays: Until the finale where everyone gets together to make Blaire's first Christmas with her Peruvian fiancé special, this is how the movie presents the situation. Almost everyone is trying to make the Kranks conform to the traditions through peer pressure and bullying, but thats only add fuel to the fire of disliking the holiday and escalating a feud.

* MickeyMousing: Luther calculates his family's Christmas bill in time with the score of The Typewriter comedy routine.

* SmallTownTyrant: Vic Frohmyer, the "unelected ward boss" of the entire neighborhood. A man described as living and breathing for his neighborhood, Vic is shown to have near absolute control over ''everything'' that happens on the Hemlock street, utilizing the neighbors under his power to emotionally manipulate them into joining their Stepford Christmas, and even continuing the abuse after they cave as petty revenge for Luther's refusal to conform costing the neighborhood residents first place in a display contest. The ending of the film shows that even the police who guard the neighborhood are under his control, and he, much like the rest of the neighbors, gets off scot free for putting the Kranks through absolute hell for his own needs.

* SmallTownTyrant: Vic Frohmyer, the "unelected ward boss" of the entire neighborhood. A man described as living and breathing for his neighborhood, Vic is shown to have near absolute control over ''everything'' that happens on the Kranks' street, utilizing the neighbors under his power to emotionally manipulate them into joining their Stepford Christmas, and even continuing the abuse after they cave as petty revenge for Luther's refusal to conform costing the neighborhood residents first place in a display contest. The ending of the film shows that even the police who guard the neighborhood are under his control, and he, much like the rest of the neighbors, get off scot free for putting the Kranks through absolute hell for their own needs.

** Luther is upset that he and Nora couldn't make the Cruise, but suggests to Nora they could still make it now that they're having their big party, and could give Blair and Enrique time together at their hometown. While Nora rightfully calls him out for obsessing after everyone helped them in spite of the whole feud and his daughter flew back to be with them, he's not wrong to try and compromise. He bought the trip with no insurance, so he can't refund it, Blair and her fiancé are already doing the celebrating and might like some time alone together, and the neighbors that have been horrible to them are now getting their way by pure coincidence.
* KarmaHoudini: Vic and the rest of the Kranks' neighbors suffer absolutely no consequences for demonizing Luther and Nora, even after they bully them nonstop into joining their borderline Orwellian Christmas traditions.

** Luther is upset that he and Nora couldn't make the Cruise, but suggests to Nora they could still make it now that they're having their big party, and could give Blair and Enrique time together at their hometown. While Nora rightfully calls him out for obsessing after everyone helped them in spite of the whole feud and his daughter flew back to be with them, he's not wrong to try and compromise. He bought the trip with no insurance, so he can't refund it, Blair and her fiancé are already doing the celebrating and might like some time alone together, and the neighbors that have been horrible to them are now getting their way by pure coincidence.

** Blair means "Meadow" in Scottish Gaelic, and it fits for a GranolaGirl volunteering to help contries overseas.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Pretty much the ''whole reason'' the movie falls apart. Yes, Christmas is obviously a big deal in this community, but Luther and Nora are quite right in pointing out that they spend over $6,000 on it every year, largely to make their daughter happy--and now that she's gone, there's no need to put in that much cash for something they don't really want or need to do.
** Luther is upset that he and Nora couldn't make the Cruise, but suggests to Nora they could still make it now that they're having their big party, and could give Blair and Enrique time together at their hometown. While Nora rightfully calls him out for obsessing after everyone helped them in spite of the whole feud and his daughter flew back to be with them, he's not wrong to try and compromise. He bought the trip with no insurance, so he can't refund it, Blair and her fiance are already doing the celebrating and might like some time alone together, and the neighbors that have been horrible to them are now getting their way by pure coincidence.

** The Tanning salon scene has someone just so happening to startle Nora, making her hit her head, which causes her to go to the front desk because the clerk has headphones on, which causes her to run into her priest (who was just walking by) in public, which causes her husband in a similar state of undress to come and check on her while she's up at the front desk, which leads to them Bing in the paper and breaking Nora's last straw.
* CrappyHolidays: Until the finale where everyone gets together to make Blaire's first Christmas with her foreign Fiance special, this is how the movie presents the situation. Almost everyone is trying to make the Kranks conform to the traditions through peer pressure and bullying, but thats only add fuel to the fire of disliking the holiday and escalating a feud.

** Luther is upset that he and Nora couldn't make the Cruise, but suggests to Nora they could still make it now that they're having their big party, and could give Clair and Enrique time together at their hometown. While Nora rightfully calls him out for obsessing after everyone helped them in spite of the whole feud and his daughter flew back to be with them, he's not wrong to try and compromise. He bought the trip with no insurance, so he can't refund it, Clair and her fiance are already doing the celebrating and might like some time alone together, and the neighbors that have been horrible to them are now getting their way by pure coincidence.

** Nora is ultimately this as well. She goes along with Luther's plans because, well, it just seems like a good call given the situation. She still gives back and supports the community with her fiends and on her own time if she can, she has a better relationship with the neighbors in general, and she even has a sense of humor about commando crawling around the house and the seemingly flirty gift of a swimsuit for the cruise. However, GoodIsNotSoft, because she stands her ground on her decision, and she really loses her temper thrice for good reason (when her neighbors anonymously insult her through the newspaper, when Luther takes his feuding too far with a frozen walkway to get the Carolers to go away, and when chewing Luther out about being ungrateful to everyone for helping them when they needed it).

* ObsessivelyNormal: When Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip celebrating Christmas in favor of going on a cruise. The ''[[StepfordSuburbia entire neighborhood]]'' stalks, harasses and pickets the two over it, judging them every chance they get and even posting it in the local newspaper, especially over the neighborhood's custom Frosty the Snowman figure. It is not until they decide to put their decorations up to celebrate their daughter returning from the Peace Corps do, they start acting civil towards them.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The plot of the third act could have been avoided had Luther and Nora told Clair about their plan to take a cruise. Granted, it was a rather sudden decision, but they had at least three weeks to let her know.

* SavingChristmas: Well, for a given value of saving, the last act is about Salvaging the situation for Claire's sake.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Blair loves Hickory Honey Ham