Christmas Kranking

Here’s a scary story: Seems that "Christmas with the Kranks," a silly sounding movie with Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, was met with nasty reviews. The moral right and Christian orgs loved it, primarily because it had a dearth of cussing and talked of the goodness and joy of the Holiday.

So… the movie studio latched onto quotes/sound bytes from such esteemed outlets as “The 700 Club.” I always go to the “700 Club” for film advice. I even go there ahead of Roger Ebert and The New Yorker. Someone from the “700 Club” said something along the lines of “Great holiday fun” … or “great for the whole family” … or.. well, you get the picture. As a master of sound bytes, I know they can be very dangerous. The net is that a movie is making decent money when it otherwise would be a dog of the year.

The kicker: The movie stars Tim Allen. And while I am one to forgive and forget, I wonder how the folks at The Club reconcile the fact that Allen served time for drug trafficking. Or, is it part of that myth that the religious right says one thing while doing something else in “real life.” I think it’s called moral superiority.