Scrooged
Published November 29, 2022
Film info
- Title Scrooged
- Director Richard Donner
- Year 1988
- Run time 1hr 41m
- Genres Drama, Fantasy, Comedy
- Tagline The spirits will move you in odd and hysterical ways
A network TV president is perhaps the most cold-hearted man ever, but his holiday spirit is given a painful booster shot by three vengeful ghosts. In this darkly comic updating of Charles Dickens' Christmas classic 'A Christmas Carol', Bill Murray portrays Frank Cross, an evil, crass, executive who caters to the lowest-of-the-lowest common denominators, firing people whenever he wants to and for the flimsiest of reasons. Therefore, to change his cruel and tasteless ways, Cross is taken on a trip through his past to his future so that he can achieve redemption.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 2:28 | Omg, I really want to watch that movie. The Night the Reindeer Died. |
| 7:35 | He’s so adorably brave, this guy! |
| 10:30 | “What about my bonus?” “Towel AND a face cloth.” |
| 18:46 | I think if I ever shot a gun I’d be like that - pew, pew, pew. |
| 22:33 | Looks at his watch to think about 15 years, love it. |
| 28:28 | “Do you see anybody having fun here?” |
| 31:16 | Painting the wall for them. The Wall in Berlin. |
| 34:31 | That was some top class falling over. |
| 38:37 | Howdy doody time, like off of BTTF 3! |
| 49:01 | You can’t break up with someone dressed as a giant dog. |
| 56:42 | Street urchins vs sea urchins. |
| 1:04:21 | “I know something you don’t know, I know something you don’t know.” |
| 1:21:39 | I love that the people in the gallery have Christmas jumpers on. |
| 1:24:29 | “That was just an innocent window and look what I did to that.” |
Thoughts
As a vehicle for Bill Murray’s best darkly comic grumpiness, this is perfect. As a movie that’s supposed to be a take on A Christmas Carol, it’s really not great. Firstly it makes no sense why the woman would have fallen for Bill, stayed with him, and actively wanted to get back together with him before even his redemption journey started. I call it a redemption journey but he really doesn’t seem to be learning any lessons, remaining pretty miserable and dour the whole way through until suddenly BANG he’s all better with a big speech on TV.
It was entertaining but I don’t know it lives up to the cult following it has.
Rating: 3 / 5
