What do you get when you cross A CHRISTMAS CAROL with GHOSTBUSTERS? The answer: a confused and overblown comedy with an identity crisis, such as director Richard Donner's SCROOGED. Although SCROOGED aspires to be a modern day version of Charles Dickens' classic tale, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, the film seems as if it would rather be a GHOSTBUSTERS sequel. The movie is overwrought with big-budget special effects that look good but add nothing to the story.
SCROOGED stars Bill Murray as Frank Cross, the youngest network president in television history. Cross is a real S.O.B.; he is greedy, mean-spirited, and merciless. Following the general story line of Dickens' novel, Cross encounters the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, who give him a chance to reevaluate his life and change his ways.
Murray's performance in SCROOGED is adequate, but nothing special. He is fine when his role calls for humor. In the film's dramatic scenes, however, Murray fails to give his character emotional conviction. Perhaps Donner is at fault for not pushing SCROOGED far enough in any one direction. The movie never really decides whether it wants to be a dramatic, yet comic, re-telling of A CHRISTMAS CAROL or an all-out slapstick parody of it. The film's ambivalence prevents it from completely succeeding either dramatically or comically. Although SCROOGED is fairly entertaining and funny, it is also extremely uneven. The drama, for the most part, is unconvincing and never catches fire. And throughout the film, the extravagant (but unnecessary) special effects distract from the story.
While Murray may be somewhat disappointing in his comeback role, the rest of the cast in SCROOGED is magnificent; in fact, the supporting performances and the unending string of cameos are almost enough by themselves to make the film worthwhile. Robert Mitchum, Bobcat Goldthwait, and David Johansen are among the many actors who help to enliven SCROOGED. Carol Kane almost steals the entire movie in her 25 minute sequence as the petite, but physically abusive, Ghost of Christmas Present. The cameos in SCROOGED come fast and furious--so stay on your toes. SCROOGED is also worthwhile for its witty parody of television. The programming on Murray's network yields some of the funniest moments in the entire movie.
Overall, SCROOGED is a mixed bag. It does contain several rewarding performances and genuine laughs, but you have to pay for them by sitting through the movie's failed drama, low humor, and pacing problems. SCROOGED came close to winning me over, but ultimately its rewards just weren't enough to compensate for its frustrations.
By : Randy Parker (http://www.shoestring.org)
Source: rec.art.movies.reviews newsgroup
Rating: 2
Take a look at the following equation....
A CHRISTMAS CAROL+GHOSTBUSTERS=SCROOGED
Yes, SCROOGED is the odd mixture of sentiment, comedy and horror you would get if you mixed those two elements toghether. SCROOGED is alternatively sick, gross, funny, and then sickly soppy.
Bill Murray plays Frank Cross, a T.V executive with a horrible personality. He's evil to secretary, actors, crew, everyone, except the T.V's station's boss, of course (played by the late Robert Mitchum) However, he is then visited by a very dead exec, who warns Cross that he will be visited by three ghosts, past, present and future (who is called The Ghost of Yet to Come, for some reason) Sure enough, they arrive, show Cross how much of a S.O.B he is, and he changes his way.
However, throughout this simple plot, we've got to suffer outlandish special effects, poor comedy, and an very, very mean performance from Bill Murray. Frank Cross isn't 'funny' mean, he's just mean. He also isn't very good at emotional scenes, and totally destroys the last ten minutes of the film, with an utterly desperate speech saying how great christmas is, and how he has changed. However, the supporting cast are OK, with good performances from Mitchum, Allen (who plays his girlfriend) and John Glover (who plays Cross's 'partner') The ghost of christmas past isn't that bad either. Sadly, though, the audience has to suffer 25 minutes of 'Home Alone' style violence from the ghost of christmas present, played by Carol Kane. Whoever thought smacking that Kane smacking Murray in the head with a toaster was funny, should be fired straight away. And the audience also has to suffer Bobcat Goldthwait (the guy with the annoying voice in Police Academy 3, if I remeber correctly....) who, thankfully, dosen't say much. The script is horrendous. Michael O'Donaghue churns out terrible, bad taste jokes (which I guess is the whole point really) then changes direction completely to emotional scenes. And he must of been on some drug when he wrote the final ten minutes, which are awful. The special effects look nice, but do nothing for the film. There's some impressive make up effects also. The music is also good, which is scored by Danny Elfman. But great effects and make up don't make a great film. SCROOGED is an appaling attempt to inject some christmas spirit into the audience, seeing as the first 1 hour 20 minutes of the film are so depressing anyway, and the last ten minutes had to make up for it with an godawful speech. Why didn't Cross just look out his exec window, and ask a young boy to buy a goose for him?
Overall, then, you'd have a much better christmas if you avoid this film like something that should be avoided (perhaps a plague)
By : David Wilcock (http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/9061)
