Review of A Very Murray Christmas (2015) by Paul N — 27 Dec 2015

Christmas films do not come as boring and meaningless as this. In a shocking turn of events, Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray's festive contribution for 2015, backed heavily by Netflix, has taken a premise that could and should have worked in an enormous way and completely bombed in spectacular fashion.

It's Christmas eve and Bill Murray is set to host his own, live, televised Christmas sing a long, with big stars lining up to contribute. Sadly for Murray and his festivities, there is a terrible storm underway, which grid locks the city and grinds Murray's party to a halt.

Heavily marketed as a warm and hilarious festive outing, with a subtle hint of melancholy, A Very Murray Christmas, fails in every possible regard at achieving what it originally sets out to do and then some.

The film has no laughs what so ever, which is beyond strange considering the comedy genius has written the disaster, it leans so heavily on a blunt and bleak premise that any warmth and emotion is locked away behind its icy cold exterior and it never, ever manages to understand, never mind realize what it wants to achieve at any given moment.

Its a huge disaster, with cameos from George Clooney, Michael Cera, Amy Poehler, Miley Cyrus and Jason Schwartzman to name but a few, but all the star power in the world cannot even begin to shed some light onto this grim and depressing affair.

The songs are performed terribly, in what can only be presumed is the point, highlighting a shift in tone when the film eventually springs into life, too little too late. The overall look of the film echoes these emotions heavily, constantly feeling empty and cold, there is very little invigoration until the final 10 minutes, which by then means A Very Murray Christmas has sealed its own demise.

I wanted to love this, I wanted to understand and be part of what I hoped was a wonderful, tongue in cheek and warming experience, instead I was left deflated, depressed and slightly suicidal by the end of the films short run time.

Coppola enthusiasts have no leg to stand on here, A Very Murray Christmas is a disaster, one that hopefully vanishes into the cold, winter air and never resurfaces.