Scrooged (Bill Murray)

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There are some DVDs on our shelves which we don’t recall buying or acquiring in any other way. Perhaps ‘Scrooged’ was a gift at some point; perhaps we found it on a second-hand stall. We knew it was - inevitably - a modern-day take on ‘A Christmas Carol’, but had not seen it for at least fourteen years. However it seemed like a suitable film to watch on the first Tuesday of Advent.

As we started watching, I wondered if we were seeing a trailer for another film at first - but it turned out that the first scene is set in a TV studio. The studio boss, Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is being shown trailers for his television’s live Christmas production of ‘A Christmas Carol’. He is very scathing about this, and proposes his own trailer, full of guns and violence, with no relevance at all to the production - but, he is convinced, certain to draw in viewers.

Frank is a bad-tempered person who thinks nothing of working his employees until all hours, ignoring their needs. He even fires someone for disagreeing with him, cancelling his Christmas bonus. He is a typecast modern-day Scrooge. He has a brother who is exaggeratedly fluffy and kind, always inviting Frank for Christmas Day, but he cares nothing for him - telling his secretary to send him (and many other acquaintances) towels for Christmas.

The film follows the standard ‘Christmas Carol’ outline: Frank is confronted by the zombie-like body of someone who died a few years ago, and is warned that he will see the Ghost of the Christmas Past the following day. He thinks he’s had a nightmare but is disturbed enough that he calls a girl called Claire (Karen Allen) whom - he says - he hasn’t spoken to for fifteen years.

The Ghost (David Johansen), when revealed, is quite a surprise (to watchers as well as to Frank). He’s taken to scenes of his childhood, with neglectful parents, and some happier scenes when he and Claire met and got together. He also sees why they parted, and that his priorities were always work and money rather than people.

I didn’t much like the Ghost of the Christmas Present (Carol Kane) who appears as a rather violent fairy, showing Frank scenes of other people including his secretary Grace (Alfre Woodard) and her young son Calvin (Nicholas Philips) who is unable to speak due to a trauma some years earlier.

There are various side-stories through the film, making it more interesting than a straightforward equivalent to the Dickens classic. We see Grace and her family regularly; there are also scenes with Clare, who now works in a homeless shelter. Clearly she and Frank are still attached, but he’s still too materialistic…

A lot of the film is fast-paced exaggerated action, which contrasts well with the more poignant human interest stories. It was produced in 1988, when there was no CGI; the various ghosts and other special effects were very well done. Bill Murray is good, acting both himself as he is, and as he was when he was rather younger, and - as with most of the cast - is caricatured rather than being a particularly believable character. I think my favourite of all the cast was the young Calvin, who had only a minor role (albeit the equivalent of ‘’Tiny Tim’ in ‘A Christmas Carol). But Nicholas Phillips’ acting ability shone through though he probably wasn’t more than about eight years old at the time.

It wasn’t the greatest of films, though it was well done and a good one to start the Christmas season. The rating was originally PG but updated to 12 in 2012, which I think is probably better. There’s not a lot of bad language, and no scenes of intimacy, although there’s a brief image of ‘Kama Sutra’ and women in scantily clad clothing. However there’s a surprising amount violence; some of it clearly meant to be slapstick, but some scenes could be disturbing to a sensitive child.

Worth seeing for a different take on the Dickens classic, but I wouldn’t count ‘Scrooged’ as a favourite film.

Review copyright 2020 Sue's DVD Reviews