Scrooged (1988)Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe
Directed by: Richard Donner
I know what a lot of you are thinking here on Fowler's Film Blog: "Fowler, are you getting tired of sitting through so many versions of A Christmas Carol?" The answer is simply no. If the world hasn't gotten fed up with majority of these adaptations, then most of them should have something that causes them to stand out from the rest. If they were all the same, THEN I'd be sick of it. If you're able to tell the story with a good Scrooge, and a fun gimmick like Muppets or Disney characters, then the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge is easy to entertain me. But what happens when your Christmas Carol film isn't actually A Christmas Carol? Scrooged is a 1988 comedy, serving as a modern interpretation inspired by A Christmas Carol. With a director like Richard Donner, notable for The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, and Superman: The Movie, and a main actor like Bill Murray attached, it has certainly gained a large following as far as popular Christmas Carol movies go for the last couple of decades. But this year marks my first year ever watching it, so what did I think of Scrooged?
For starters, I have a huge adversity in my household when it comes to Bill Murray. My wife doesn't get his humor and popularity, and it's hard for me to explain it to her when she's sat through films like Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day without laughing. As a result, I find that it's best I watch his movies by myself. In Scrooged, he plays a greedy and cynical television executive named Frank Cross. One thing that I love about his portrayal of Frank is that through his Bill Murray brand of sarcasm, he makes Frank a pain in the butt, but still likable. Through his past, you see that a lot of his greed and hatred for Christmas was brought through his upbringing. In the other versions of A Christmas Carol that I've seen, Scrooge just seems evil for the most part. The greed comes out of nowhere in the Mickey and Muppet versions. This at least feels much more understandable and tragic to behold. You're really rooting for the guy to see the error of his ways and he gets really close a number of times in the film, but then regresses. It's a roller coaster of momentum for him, starting with skepticism but ultimately coming to regret and the desire to reform. That's a lot of material for Bill Murray to work with and he does a great job with it.The supporting cast for this film is absolutely phenomenal. Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Alfre Woodard, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait (who I swear is the comedic inspiration for Charlie Day after watching him in Scrooged) all play memorable roles that are able to play off of Murray really well. I especially like how they aren't carbon copies of their Christmas Carol counterparts. In this version, it is explored that Frank lost the chance of love in the past, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have a shot at redemption with Claire, played by Karen Allen. I also like how Goldthwait and Woodard combine to form the Bob Cratchit character. I won't give too much away, but both play equally integral parts in Frank's life in the same way Cratchit did for Scrooge. But the major highlights are the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Present, played by David Johansen and Carol Kane. Both have great humorous bits messing with Frank, especially Kane who resorts in beating the crap out of Frank whenever she can while still trying to be overly cheerful. Johansen's humor comes out of being an off the wall taxi driver (not the Robert De Niro kind) who literally drives Frank insane in his journey to the past. If Murray brought you to Scrooged, the supporting cast helps you see that this isn't a one-note gimmick film.
What Scrooged excels in, besides the cast, is its modern interpretation of the Charles Dickens classic. Instead of being greedy over collecting finances, its greed over power through television. The setting isn't an older, classical England, but rather a modern, corporate America. When they utilize moments from A Christmas Carol, it's done in a tongue in cheek way, calling back to the traditional story while also poking fun at it. The irony of it is when you look at all the television programming, or even half of what the corporation is looking for with the target audience, it was satirical at the time. But now, I think a lot of humanity has actually "evolved" into what this movie was actually making fun of. Does that mean the movie is in the wrong for trying to steer us away from that lifestyle? No, not at all. We're entirely to blame for that. But isn't it a fun kind of blame to have? Who doesn't like television? Especially the crap television that exists today. Good Lord, maybe I'm becoming a Scrooge after watching Scrooged. Well isn't that a bit of something...Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
I'm really glad I decided to check Scrooged out this year. It had me laughing a ton and I really like the modern interpretation of A Christmas Carol. The big selling point on whether you'll like this movie is Bill Murray. Thankfully, I enjoy his work, so I'll be glad to watch this film at Christmastime for many more years.
Scrooged and movie images are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures
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