Movie Review: Scrooged (1988)
Synopsis: Television executive Frank Cross earned his position as president of IBC by being ambitious and ruthless. Now, two days before Christmas, he is set to make television history with a live, star-studded version of A Christmas Carol. However, his plans are soon disrupted when his deceased mentor visits him and concerned for Cross' future, arranges for the executive to meet three ghosts, putting Cross in danger of losing his job as he re-learns the spirit of Christmas.
Who's in it? The movie stars Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Carol Kane and Bobcat Goldthwait.
Review: I had some down time yesterday afternoon after running a bunch of errands yesterday morning and came across Scrooged on one of my movie sites. It had been a few years since I last watched the movie in its entirety, so I picked it. I wasn't disappointed with the decision.
Without doing any real research, my guess is there are dozens of re-tellings of A Christmas Carol, including multiple attempts to modernize the Charles Dickens classic. As far as that modernized category is concerned, I would argue this is the best.
While I don't dislike Bill Murray's style of comedy, it doesn't always work in his films. This is one of the times it does. Frank Cross is believable as a greedy executive but unlike other Scrooges, is softened just enough by his ability to be funny to make him reasonably likeable, at least enough to want to see him get redeemed.
The movie also has a nice message about the commercialization of the holiday. This includes both the attempt to profit off a Christmas classic by going bigger and bolder than ever before and the expensive (or inexpensive) gifts Cross gives out to his employees and family.
The thing that really makes this movie memorable though is the talented supporting cast. Allen is a perfect fit as Cross' love interest, Claire. John Glover's Brice Cummings gives the film a great villain, basically a younger, hungrier version of Cross. Goldthwait's Eliot Loudermilk provides a surprisingly good wildcard, building a bit of suspense toward the end. And of course, Kane is easily one of the most memorable Ghosts of Christmas Present as she is given the chance to show off her comedic talents and lighten the mood before the much darker Ghost of Christmas Future (Chaz Conner) brings it back down again.
My only real complaint about the movie, ironically, is it does too good a job selling Cross' vision of A Christmas Carol. With a cast that includes Buddy Hacket, Lee Majors and Mary Lou Retton, I always find myself wanting to see that version of the story whenever I see this one. It's too bad nobody ever thought to make a sequel that did just that.
Final Opinion: It is a solid re-telling of A Christmas Carol with a clever and funny modern twist. It's not a movie I watch every year at Christmas but one I won't regret watching when I do.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other Bill Murray movies:
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