Review: Scrooged

Set around Christmas time, Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, the cold-hearted, cynical president of a TV network. Whilst in the midst of a live TV production of ‘A Christmas Carol’, Frank is visited by three ghosts- Christmas Past (David Johansen), Christmas Present (Carol Kane), and Christmas Future, in an attempt to make him see the error of his ways by showing him who he used to be and who he could end up being should he continue being a miserable prick to everyone around him. Robert Mitchum plays Frank’s CEO, Alfre Woodard is Frank’s long-suffering secretary Grace, Bobcat Goldthwait plays a nerdy employee named Elliott Loudermilk whom Frank fires on Christmas Eve, John Forsythe turns up as Frank’s former boss and essentially the Jacob Marley character, John Glover plays a schmuck named Bryce whom Mitchum might replace Frank with, and Karen Allen plays the ‘one that got away’, a do-gooder whom Frank might just have a second chance with if he doesn’t screw it up. Brian Doyle-Murray appears as Frank’s realist father in flashbacks, whilst John Murray and Wendie Malick play Frank’s brother and sister-in-law, whose dinner invites he frequently rejects.

 

Although not considered a critical success at the time (it made a lot of money, though), and I was alternately scared and perplexed by it at age 8 when I saw it in cinemas, I think time has been quite kind to this 1988 Richard Donner (Director of five of my favourite films: “The Omen”, “Superman”, “Lethal Weapon”, “The Goonies”, and “Ladyhawke”) flick. At least in the first half, this feels like less a Richard Donner film and very much Bill Murray does “A Christmas Carol”. It’s dark-humoured but not entirely dark-hearted, and pretty enjoyable actually. It’s the perfect version of “A Christmas Carol” for the ‘greed is good’, cynical and bombastic 80s.

 

It starts out pretty hilariously with Murray’s ridiculously action-filled Christmas movie creation (‘The Night the Reindeer Died’) starring Santa…and Lee Majors! And trailer voiceover king Don LaFontaine! By the time we got to ‘Bob Goulet’s Old-Fashioned Cajun Christmas’ I was grinning from ear to ear. The icing on the cake is an ad for a version of “Scrooge” with the most insane cast you’ve ever heard of…and the Solid Gold Dancers! (‘The Night the Reindeer Died’ trailer/gag  does play a little more uncomfortably in the post 9/11 world due to a building-related act of terrorism, but this was 1988 one must remember). Bill Murray is initially perfect casting as the cynical, black-hearted corporate prick. During these early scenes you couldn’t wish for anyone else to be in the role, he’s a lot of nasty, glib fun. Alfre Woodard also makes for an interesting and easily sympathetic Bob Cratchitt-type. The cast is actually really impressive, and not just the TV-show-in-a-movie cameos. Bobcat Goldthwait, for instance, is absolutely hilariously cast against type as a nerdy, milquetoast-y employee…who just so happens to sound like Zed from the “Police Academy” films. It’s not an inspired vocal choice as such, but definitely a very funny one. Robert Mitchum, of all people, turns up as Murray’s boss (Probably not the best use of the great Hollywood star).

 

David Johansen and Carol Kane, however, threaten to steal the show here as the ghoulish, taxi-driving Ghost of Christmas Past and loopy Ghost of Christmas Present, respectively. Former punk rocker Johansen (also known as alter-ego, lounge singer Buster Poindexter) was never really an actor, but sure was a real character. This is his best showing in film, in my view, he’s a grotesque delight. Kane, meanwhile probably has her signature role here, kinda like Glinda the Good Witch (whom she quotes at one point if you’re cluey) with a masochist kick. A daffy delight. In smaller parts, John Forsythe is really solid as Murray’s ghoulish, long-dead former boss, John Glover is an instantly punchable schmuck (I love that guy!), and Brian Doyle-Murray is well-cast as his brother’s father. Yep, I’m pretty proud of that joke. We also get appearances by Donner regulars Steve Kahan and Mary Ellen Trainor (Best bit-player of all-time? Maybe not, but bloody dependable anyway), the inimitable Michael J. Pollard, and the indispensable Anne Ramsey, in sadly one of her final roles. And if you think Wendie Malick looks fine in 2016, I’m here to tell you she looked astoundingly hot in 1988. I also shouldn’t forget the film’s leading lady: The truly invaluable yet sorely underrated and now too-rarely seen Karen Allen. If you wanna know just how important Karen Allen can be to a film’s chemistry, just watch Kate Capshaw in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. That shrieking harpy could’ve killed the franchise right there. No one’s gonna say Allen’s role here is anything to write home about, but she’s instantly terrific in this. Sunny, witty, smart, and above all, grounded. She is very, very necessary for this film, in my view, and it’s a shame she hasn’t gotten more ‘big’ movie roles since the 90s (She’s been reasonably active on TV, and various other things, apparently). She was probably the best thing in the unfairly maligned “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.

 

I enjoyed this film, it’s entertaining and darkly funny. However, I would not perhaps consider it a successful film, if that doesn’t sound too contradictory. I don’t think it is able to quite sell the message it is ultimately trying to sell. What stops the film from being entirely successful in selling its message of Christmas cheer and selfless giving, is oddly enough one of the best things about the film otherwise: Bill Murray. He is so brilliantly effective in playing an absolute jerk of a human being that when it comes time for the transition, it’s too hard a transition and Murray, at least in 1988 wasn’t a strong enough actor to pull it off. We hear the words he is saying, but Murray isn’t able to convince us that this guy really believes those words, and therefore we don’t either. It’s a real shame, because it truly is the only flaw in the entire film. Well, unless you count the hit single the film spawned. You see, everyone has that one movie song that they felt got unnecessarily overplayed so much that you ended up hating the fuck out of it. For many, it’s Wet Wet Wet’s brilliant cover of ‘Love is All Around’ from “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (hilariously parodied in “Love Actually”). For others it’s Bryan Adams’ raspy power ballad ‘Everything I Do (I Do it For You)’ from “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”. For me, it’s Al Green and Annie Lennox’s duet in this film, ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’. In my mid-30s, I’m now slowly getting over that hatred. It’s a perfectly pleasant song. I guess.

 

Any film featuring Michael J. Pollard, Anne Ramsey, David Johansen, and Bobcat Goldthwait is probably going to be an acquired taste, but this one’s pretty underrated. If it weren’t for Bill Murray’s inability to quite sell his character’s transformation, it’d be even better. Murray is perfect when dialling up the insincerity on purpose in the early stages, but when called upon to come across as sincerely reformed, he’s unable to pull it off. He was able to do it a few years later in the slightly similar “Groundhog Day”, so perhaps he just wasn’t ready for that yet. Still, this one probably deserves a re-evaluation of its worth in my view, it isn’t a fatal flaw at the end of the day. It’s a good, but not great film. The screenplay is by Michael O’Donohue (a veteran writer for National Lampoon magazine and TV’s “SNL”) and Mitch Glazer (formerly Wendie Malick’s husband, and more recently the screenwriter of “The Recruit”), and obviously inspired by Charles Dickens. 

 

Rating: B-