Scrooged (1988)

Scrooged

• It feels like there’s been about a hundred renditions of Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic, but this one stands out because it’s a much more modern retelling. I mean, “A Christmas Carol” is the second most famous Christmas story ever (besides the birth of Christ, of course), and it’s been done with motion capture, Muppets, etc. But this one is great because it’s not set 180 years ago. It’s a late 80’s film, which is evident, and it mixes in corporations, commercialism, and advertisement. I love how it uses a workplace setting with corporate greed to tell the story, which is extremely smart in my eyes. Very refreshing from everything else I’ve seen. Now, it’s definitely not the best “A Christmas Carol” film I’ve seen, just because it’s very corny and over the top. But that’s what makes it fun. Bill Murray’s performance is great, and one of my favorites of his. He’s so crabby and grumpy, and you pretty much can’t stand him for the majority of the film. But the very last scene where he does his Christmas speech on the air was absolutely awesome. It was super heartwarming and he redeems himself in the best way possible. The whole cast is great, and even though some of the characters are very obnoxious, all the actors do a great job of contributing to the whole vibe of the film. Lastly, the character designs were awesome, and they help provide a very fantastical element that contrasts the real life world. Overall, this movie is pretty good, and though the theme is obviously very repeated, it was a breath of fresh air from other adaptations of Charles Dickens’ story. I’d recommend it to most people, especially if you love slightly edgy Bill Murray comedies.