Review of Scrooged (1988) by Phillip R — 14 Nov 2010

"All day long, I listen to people give me excuses why they can't work... 'My back hurts,' 'my legs ache,' 'I'm only four!' The sooner he learns life isn't handed to him on a silver platter, the better!".

Richard Donner is known most of his 'Lethal Weapon' and 'Superman' films. High level actions films in other words. So I was a bit surprised when the end credits started to roll and there came Donner's name out. Director and producer. Well, this tale of Charles Dickens' novel 'A Christmas Carol' has been adapted sooo many times on film and television. Donner's outlook is a bit more "modern" (the film was released back in '88) with Bill Murray in the lead. But Murray is not the one that caught my attention and high praise... I'll reveal the name later on.

Francis Cross (Murray) is a egotistical executive at a television company. He's got everything a man wants. Fame and fortune. But along with that he has become cold-hearted and cruel. His concentration on his work has made him lose his "one true love" and alienated him from his family. He overworks his staff and fires people on Christmas day. So he ain't such a nice guy. It's time for three ghosts (well four if you count his former boss) to appear and teach him a lesson.

'Scrooged' has not aged well, that's for sure. The effects and the makeup ain't that good looking anymore but in my opinion, this movie don't need 'em that much per se. It' more about the story. And the basic idea hasn't changed a bit since Dickens wrote his last words for the novel.

Bill Murray, who was in his (first) prime in the 80's ('Stripes', 'Ghostbusters'), lost himself in the 90's (with the exception of 'Groundhog Day') and made a comeback in 2001 ('The Royal Tenenbaums'), is acting a bit on overdrive here. I've seen this film maybe 3-4 times by now and on this last viewing, I found him a bit annoying at times. But there are several scenes where he gives good performances, funny or dramatic.

BUT (and that's a big but) the one performer that steals the show, eventhough she's seen for maybe 1 minute in total, is Anne Ramsay. I've loved her performances in 'The Goonies' and 'Throw Momma From the Train'. This film was one of her last, as she died of throat cancer in 1989. Her unusual speech is caused by the fact, that some parts of her tongue and jawbone had to be removed in eary 80's when she had cancer for the first time. What a wonderful momma she was.

As a curiosity, I saw that this film also had "Free South Africa" posters on some locations. I'm a fan of the 'Lethal Weapon' series and I remember from the 2nd film that there were similar posters shown there. The film had a South African baddy so I'm starting to think that Donner wanted to give his own part in the fight against apartheid. In 1991 it ended in South Africa...

Well back to the film. 'Scrooged' still guaranteed several laughs, eventhough my multiple viewings. Dickens' novels story will never die and this is a somewhat different adaptation and in my opinion, a successful one. Now when Christmas is just behind the corner, I'd recommend 'Scrooged' as a Christmas film for the more mature audience.