“Christmas at the Kringles” follows the Seversons, a family whose fresh start in a new neighborhood turns unsettling as their next-door neighbors, the Kringles, attempt to indoctrinate them into their year-round Christmas-celebrating cult.
Director Kevin Lewis has a lot of ideas in “Christmas at the Kringles.” At the center is the message that joy doesn’t need to be a year-round thing — in fact, it’s not possible. It’s OK to have bad days or weeks or months. A very merry Christmas can’t continue all year long. It’s an impactful takeaway. Unfortunately, everything else surrounding it is bad.
“Don’t let the haters get you down.”
“Christmas at the Kringles” is jarring. The opening minutes are bloody, followed by almost an hour of cringey, over-the-top Christmas cheer. After that, it shifts back into action and horror. When the tones are handled separately, Lewis is able to pull off a number of entertaining moments. As they combine, however, the movie becomes a complete mess. This culminates in a final act that wants to be funny and frightening, but it’s neither. Zack Imbrogno’s screenplay features a “Drunk Santa” who appears whenever it’s convenient, characters joking about safe words in life-or-death scenarios and people who make dumbfounded decisions time and time again.
This is felt in the 98-minute runtime. As long stretches of awkward humor drag out, it’s bound to lose some audience members. As it shifts into “creepy cult” territory, it’s going to leave behind those enjoying the dumb comedy. There just might have been a better movie had it fully committed to one of the two moods.
Director of photography Brandon Cox and editor Ryan Liebert do give it a distinct visual style. Of course, the majority of shots feature Christmas-light ambiance. They cover tight hallways and living room spaces to create a consistently colorful environment. As the story grows weirder, so does the camerawork. Close-up shots are increasingly utilized, and Liebert begins to take a handheld approach while weaving through spaces. While this adds a visceral quality to the action, it also makes scenes hard to follow. Because “Christmas at the Kringles” is constantly cutting between shots, it turns into a shaky collage of punches and swings that don’t really connect.
Thomas Lennon (Nick Kringle) and Arden Myrin (Carol Kringle) deliver the most memorable performances simply because they’re so annoying. And that’s a compliment. The two actors successfully portray outrageous personalities, making every scene so uncomfortable that you can’t help but laugh. Also appearing are Ron Livingston (Mark Severson), Rachel Bilson (Julie Severson) and Rob Riggle (Drunk Santa). Livingston delivers a dry performance that doesn’t really fit in. Even when events reach extreme levels, he never matches the craziness of those around him. Bilson has a much more outgoing delivery that makes up for this. Riggle delivers plenty of one-liners — and a few inspirational messages — but that’s about it. Ultimately, none of the actors are given much to work with script-wise, which results in hollow characters and equally hollow lines.
“Christmas at the Kringles” is a haunted house of the holidays rather than horrors. But instead of being funny or scary, it’s just annoying.
Rating: 2 out of 5
