{"id":8455,"date":"2024-11-18T00:11:56","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T05:11:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8455"},"modified":"2024-11-18T00:11:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T05:11:56","slug":"scrooged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/18\/scrooged\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrooged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Scrooged <\/strong>(1988) Paramount\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, comic violence, frightening special effects, some sexual references\/humor, alcohol and drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Richard Donner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mitch Glazer and Michael O’Donoghue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Elfman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Chapman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 23, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, Carol Kane, Robert Mitchum, Nicholas Phillips, Michael J. Pollard, Alfre Woodard, Mabel King, John Murray, Reina King, Anne Ramsey, Logan Ramsey, Wendie Malick.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $60.3M (US)\/$100.3M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Director Richard Donner (the Lethal Weapon movies) takes a comic approach to the Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol in Scrooged<\/strong>, a wickedly funny comedy with first-rate special effects and Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) at his nastiest. He plays Frank Xavier Cross, the youngest network president in the history of television. He’s mean, ruthless, uncaring and humorless. His office walls have borders that read “Cross: (n) A thing they nail people to.\u201d He\u2019s obviously the Scrooge character.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Frank hates Christmas with a passion. He wants nothing to do with it. The only joy he gets out of the season is ruining it for others. He fires one of his executives (Goldthwait, Police Academy 2-4) for criticizing the highly inappropriate TV spot for a live performance of Scrooge set to air on Christmas Eve. He won\u2019t give his long-suffering secretary Grace (Woodard, Grand Canyon) time off to take her young son, mute after witnessing his father\u2019s murder, to the doctor. He declines an invite from his younger brother (Bill\u2019s real-life brother John) to come to Christmas dinner. All he cares about is work and ratings. This is one guy who deserves to be Scrooged.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One night, Frank receives a visit from his old mentor Lew Hayward (Forsythe, Dynasty). The only problem is the man\u2019s been dead for several years. The decomposing corpse pours himself a drink and informs Frank that he\u2019ll be visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve. He needs to change before it\u2019s too late. It freaks him out enough to call his ex-girlfriend Claire (Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark) in a frightened panic. She\u2019s a kind, caring sort who works at a homeless shelter. He hasn\u2019t seen or spoken to her in years. She left him because of his selfish nature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Already freaked out, Frank\u2019s stress is compounded by the weaselly new assistant (Glover, 52 Pick Up) hired by his boss (Mitchum, Out of the Past) to help him out on the $40 million live show. It\u2019s a big deal, this show. It involves broadcasts from several countries and an unusual cast that includes comedian Buddy Hackett as Scrooge and perky gymnast Mary Lou Retton as Tiny Tim. This is no time for Frank to crack up, but it appears to everybody that\u2019s where he\u2019s headed. Then the first ghost shows up.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m pretty sure we all known how the story goes. Frank is visited by three spirits: The Ghost of Christmas Past (Johansen, aka novelty musician Buster Poindexter), Christmas Present (Kane, The Princess Bride) and Christmas Future. They appear to Frank in the forms of a New York City taxi driver, a playful fairy princess and a Grim Reaper-like specter. They take him through his life, showing him the error of his ways and where he\u2019s headed if he doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ebenezer Scrooge has been played by many actors over the years: Reginald Owen, Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, George C. Scott, Michael Caine, Patrick Stewart and Jim Carrey. He was even played by Mr. Magoo in a Christmas special from the 60s. None of them did it quite like Bill Murray in Scrooged<\/strong>. He\u2019s definitely the funniest. He brings his trademark persona to the role, looking at the supernatural goings-on with bemusement and making wise cracks while undergoing a character transformation. I can\u2019t speak to Dickens\u2019 sense of humor, but he might have been amused by Murray\u2019s take on the miserly character he created.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Lots of familiar faces show up in Scrooged<\/strong>. It has appearances by Jamie Farr, Robert Goulet, Buddy Hackett, John Houseman, Lee Majors, Pat McCormick, Mary Lou Retton, Michael O’Donoghue, Michael J. Pollard, Anne Ramsey (in her final film appearance), Miles Davis, Paul Shaffer and the Solid Gold Dancers. Retton\u2019s version of Tiny Tim is one for the books. She doesn’t just drop her cane and walk, she does a back flip and lands in a gymnastic pose before saying “God bless us everyone.\u201d That’s a stroke of comic brilliance. Fans of the Lethal Weapon franchise might recognize Steve Kahan, Mary Ellen Trainor, Damon Hines, Dolores Hall and composer David Sanborn as a street musician.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the funniest parts of Scrooged <\/strong>is the opening scene. It’s a promo for The Night the Reindeer Died, a TV movie the network will be showing. It\u2019s a Die Hard-like actioner that has terrorists attacking Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. Whoa, cool! Who knew the elves could handle automatic weapons with such ease? Who knew Santa had such a huge arsenal? The only person standing between the terrorists and control of Santa’s workshop is…. LEE MAJORS! Now that’s a Christmas movie I’d really like to see!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Scrooged<\/strong> is funny throughout with a plethora of priceless dialogue. Upon seeing his dead boss in his office, Frank says, \u201cNo, you are a hallucination brought on by alcohol…. Russian vodka poisoned by Chernobyl!\u201d In another scene, Frank throws a bucket of water on a waiter he thinks is on fire. When he realizes it was just a hallucination, he apologizes explaining \u201cI thought you were Richard Pryor.\u201d Kane is hysterical as the sweet fairy with a penchant for violence, punching Frank and hitting him with major appliances. Johansen manages a few laughs as well (\u201cGO BACK TO JERSEY, YA MORON!\u201d). I also got a laugh out of the guests at Claire\u2019s homeless shelter mistaking Frank for actor Richard Burton. Incidentally, Allen does a great job as the ex who still cares about Frank even though he doesn\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The special effects and visuals in Scrooged<\/strong> are quite impressive even by today’s standards. Let me revise that a bit, ESPECIALLY by today\u2019s standards. Nowadays it\u2019s all CGI. That\u2019s one of the things I don\u2019t like about the 3D one with Jim Carrey. With Scrooged<\/strong>, you get makeup and practical effects. The dead boss\u2019 rotting corpse is a work of art.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the end, Scrooged<\/strong> is a funny if macabre feel-good movie. It hits almost all the right notes, especially with the cast (even stuffy John Houseman) singing a happy, heartfelt rendition of \u201cPut a Little Love in Your Heart\u201d at the end. There\u2019s even a bit of audience participation with Murray inviting the audience to join in. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed Scrooged<\/strong>, I\u2019d still love to see a serious adaptation of the immortal Dickens classic someday. I think Bill Nighy would make an excellent Scrooge.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scrooged (1988) Paramount\/Comedy-Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, comic violence, frightening special effects, some sexual references\/humor, alcohol and drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Richard Donner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Mitch Glazer and Michael O’Donoghue\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Danny Elfman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Chapman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: November 23, 1988 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait, David Johansen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-holiday-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Scrooged-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8455"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8632,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8455\/revisions\/8632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}