tuckerconstable-07055 Frank Cross is the youngest president of the channel IBC and he's a jerk, to say the VERY least. A live telling of "A Christmas Carol" is scheduled to show on Christmas eve, meaning the crew and actors are going to have to work on Christmas eve, but does Frank Cross care? Heck no! He only cares about the money gained from his channels viewers. However, Frank gets a visit from his boss-who's been dead for the past ten years-telling him that he will be visited by three ghosts. As the visit gets closer and closer, Frank's life begins to resemble that of Ebenezer Scrooge's more and more."Scrooged" is an incredibly creative film. There have been countless retellings of "A Christmas Carol" over the years, and with each one the story gets more familiar and more tired. But with "Scrooged", Charles Dicken's story is given a breath of fresh air since it's set in modern day and centers around the yuppie culture of the 1980's. Bill Murray is perfectly cast as Frank Cross, in anyone else's hands Cross would have been unlikable even to when he redeems himself in the end. But, Murray is able to give Cross a few flashes of emotions other than anger and mean spiritedness. For real though, Bill Murray is really the only actor who could've successfully pulled the part off. Karen Allen is also perfectly cast as Frank Cross' ex girlfriend-Claire. Their chemistry feels very natural and even cute at points.If there's anything bad to say about "Scrooged" it's that when Frank eventually turns on Claire, choosing work over her, it feels a little too quick in the film. It would have been nice to see them on screen a little longer, but for what it is the relationship between Frank and Claire really, really works. Overall, "Scrooged" is a great retelling of "A Christmas Carol". It's funny, creative and surprisingly heartfelt in the end. It's not a perfect movie, some of the jokes could be tweaked a little, but over all "Scrooged" is highly recommended. It's a perfect film to get you into the mood for Christmas and if you're not watching it around Christmas, it's a great little film.

ericventura Scrooged, born of the unimaginative minds of untalented producers, attempts to render a classic into a modern adaptation (for originality). Clearly setting up a parallel between the classic story and the movie's story, the development is not lost on the viewer and could have been admirable, if it were not so obvious and actually contributed to the overall product. However, soon after the first minutes of the movie, the supposed ingenuity was lost and replaced with the typical, formulaic comedy movie starring a bumbling businessman, a hopeless love, and the newly recruited executive. While there are a few elicited laughs, the comedy is speckled with monologues, hopelessness, and anger, turning a Murray comedy into a drama. Maybe Donner was shooting for something like Fargo (1996), except that he forgot how to make a film, instead using the wrong movie mold straight off the shelf. The acting is typical of your typical comedy: typical, reminiscent of Happy Gilmore (1996). Everything was typical, possibly excluding the set and artistic direction aspect with the ghost costumes and TV sets. Unfortunately, the only question this film made me ask was: Why did I watch this film? Technically, the movie attacked the morality of corrupt and greedy businessmen, offering the resolution of living a humanitarian lifestyle, but it was simply adapted from a story as well-known as the Bible. The framing of the story by the writers was decent due to its parallelism to the adapted story and well-structured flashbacks, but they seemed to have forgotten their knock-knock joke book at home when they wrote the script. At least, Murray helped a bit with his classic improvisations. Should anyone watch this movie the day after they watched it the first time, it would be a completely new experience because they won't be able to remember anything of this unmemorable movie. Scrooge could remember his humanity, but Scrooged won't be remembered at all.

Movie_Muse_Reviews "Scrooged" is one of the few '80s and early '90s Bill Murray films I didn't grow up with, but even as an outsider coming to the film nearly 30 years later, it's clearly vintage Murray and was obviously paved the way for "Groundhog Day," one of my favorite films of all time.A take on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Murray stars as a selfish and soulless television executive who gets a slap in the face (literally, in several instances) from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. No new revelations come out of this adaptation of the annual Yuletide cautionary tale, but it does hold up as a classic '80s slapstick interpretation.Murray has always done despicable characters in lovable ways and Frank Cross is no exception. He's hilariously smug and manages to wink directly at the camera without ever actually doing so, a rare gift among comedic actors. The character is downright lousy, but the clever way that the movie transitions to and especially from the ghost sequences allow us to have much-needed laughs at Frank's expense. The camera tricks and written physical humor that separate the real and "ghost" worlds are easily the highlight of the non-Murray aspects of the film. Director Richard Donner, hot off "The Goonies" and the first "Lethal Weapon" at this point in his career, shows a deft hand with comedy, but it's the fantastical elements of the movie that work the best. A creepy '80s fantasy-adventure vibe whenever the ghost sequences come about transforms the movie into something a little more magical.Although it could be funnier, the only true failing of "Scrooged" is that it butchers the classic redemptive arc of its main character. Writers Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue nail the cheeky, alternative riff on what's a rather prim and proper story, but Cross' transformation doesn't hit the emotional notes. Because Dickens' tale is one of the most formula-driven stories of all time, it's easy to spot how Cross will redeem himself well before it happens. That requires the components of the story that we don't know at the onset – who Cross is and to what lengths he's a mean person – to be stronger and draw us in. They don't. The movie gets lost in the comedy stylings of Bill Murray and never roots itself in the basic yet critical tenants of the "Christmas Carol" story. Although many scenes help humanize Frank, he doesn't change all that much until the end, and it falls flat because we don't believe it."Scrooged" (and "Christmas Vacation") will always have the market cornered on Christmas movies from the late '80s. Among that classification, it can be rightfully labeled a classic. But there are better Murray comedies and better comedies from that era period. That said, the way Murray's career dramatically changed at the turn of the century leaves films in which he played the comic lead all too few, and "Scrooged" is one of the few opportunities to treasure it.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

Predrag Yes, Bill Murray pretty much plays himself in this one. Yes, the ending is too sentimental in a way that only Americans can do. No, it doesn't matter. Dickens's story never fails to engage. The relocation of the action to 1980's New York with a curmudgeonly TV exec' in the lead role works really well. The ghosts are refreshingly different with the exception of Christmas yet-to-be who probably only ever really works as a faceless shrouded figure. Dickens' tale is so well known that almost everyone knows the beats that the film follows; ex-partner, ghost of past, present and future. Where many artistic types mix things up is by changing the setting. 'Scrooged' is one of the best examples of this and Murray's loathsome TV Exec is a perfect 80's Scrooge. He is inherently mean, but he also revels in it giving him an even worse side than most portrayals of the part. The film has dated extremely since release, but that is part of the charm. Whilst the traditional Victorian tale is snow covered and whimsical, 'Scrooged' will be forever shoulder pads and giant hair.At the center of the film is a great performance by Murray, he really sells the role of a scumbag who finds a heart. The rest of the cast is less notable; Bobcat Goldthwait and Karen Allen are two actors who did not work that much after. If the film is not Murray's, it is director Richard Donner's. Donner is one of the quintessential 80's directors and he fills the film with 80's tropes; ghoulish effects and great pop music. The ghosts are more gruesome than in most revelings of the story and that makes 'Scrooged' a more adult affair, but for all its 80's facade, the film works so well because it stays true to the core messages in Dickens' work.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.