Scrooged (1988)

I've seen this underrated Christmas comedy so many times I can basically sing along to it like a popular holiday song.

One of the worst films that I have seen and the worst Christmas one by a long way.Almost every scene is terrible and ridiculously over the top, to the point that it looks silly. Murray just screams and shouts his way through the entire film. He got away with it in Groundhog Day, as he had a brilliant plot to fall back on and toned it down after a while.There is none of that here. They take an ok Dickens story, fine but not one of his best and make it considerably worse in either version playing out. There is not scene which is either interesting, funny, believable or moving.

"Scrooged" is one of the few '80s and early '90s Bill Murray films I didn't grow up with, but even as an outsider coming to the film nearly 30 years later, it's clearly vintage Murray and was obviously paved the way for "Groundhog Day," one of my favorite films of all time.A take on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Murray stars as a selfish and soulless television executive who gets a slap in the face (literally, in several instances) from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. No new revelations come out of this adaptation of the annual Yuletide cautionary tale, but it does hold up as a classic '80s slapstick interpretation.Murray has always done despicable characters in lovable ways and Frank Cross is no exception. He's hilariously smug and manages to wink directly at the camera without ever actually doing so, a rare gift among comedic actors. The character is downright lousy, but the clever way that the movie transitions to and especially from the ghost sequences allow us to have much-needed laughs at Frank's expense. The camera tricks and written physical humor that separate the real and "ghost" worlds are easily the highlight of the non-Murray aspects of the film. Director Richard Donner, hot off "The Goonies" and the first "Lethal Weapon" at this point in his career, shows a deft hand with comedy, but it's the fantastical elements of the movie that work the best. A creepy '80s fantasy-adventure vibe whenever the ghost sequences come about transforms the movie into something a little more magical.Although it could be funnier, the only true failing of "Scrooged" is that it butchers the classic redemptive arc of its main character. Writers Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue nail the cheeky, alternative riff on what's a rather prim and proper story, but Cross' transformation doesn't hit the emotional notes. Because Dickens' tale is one of the most formula-driven stories of all time, it's easy to spot how Cross will redeem himself well before it happens. That requires the components of the story that we don't know at the onset – who Cross is and to what lengths he's a mean person – to be stronger and draw us in. They don't. The movie gets lost in the comedy stylings of Bill Murray and never roots itself in the basic yet critical tenants of the "Christmas Carol" story. Although many scenes help humanize Frank, he doesn't change all that much until the end, and it falls flat because we don't believe it."Scrooged" (and "Christmas Vacation") will always have the market cornered on Christmas movies from the late '80s. Among that classification, it can be rightfully labeled a classic. But there are better Murray comedies and better comedies from that era period. That said, the way Murray's career dramatically changed at the turn of the century leaves films in which he played the comic lead all too few, and "Scrooged" is one of the few opportunities to treasure it.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Bill Murray in the 80s, one of the most charismatic actors to ever walk this planet, stars in this parody of the classic Dickens novel. It's directed by Richard Donner, who also directed 'The Omen' in the 70s, one of my favorite movies of all time. That movie is dark, terrifying and I really recommend every horror fan to check it out. I was really excited to watch this on Christmas. How could such a duo deliver anything but brilliance?Urgh...The first half an hour is actually fine and pretty fun. Murray plays a giant douche who does all the Scrooge stuff you'd expect in a modern setting. Most jokes work and it made me laugh a bunch. The jokes start to fail once the first ghost shows up. He is not really that funny and they just follow the regular Christmas Carol scenes that you would expect in a straight-up adaptation. But Murray temporarily saves the movie and stops it from becoming boring. Temporarily...The movie dies once the second ghost shows up, played by Carol Kane. She is the least funny person I've seen in a comedy in a long time and ruins this entire part. Even worse, the story now continues on very predictably...The ending is incredibly boring. This is where the movie stops to be a parody and just follows the regular story of Christmas Carol, a pretty mediocre one at that. The ending would have worked far better if they had chosen to give it a twist (Blackadder style) and given Murray a better script to work with. At the end, he breaks the fourth wall and starts to ramble at the audience, which I'm assuming was done for comedic purposes but falls flat.I don't recommend Scrooged, unless you want something for your kids at Christmas. If you are a big Murray fan, I would suggest that you watch until the first ghost shows up and then just switch it off (you know the rest of the story pretty much from now on).