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SCROOGED
Arguably the most famous and most filmed Christmas story in cinema, gets a big budget, contemporary re-thinking with 1988's Scrooged, a lavish spectacle that totally works thanks to the imaginative direction, flawless production values, and the comic genius that is Bill Murray.
In this dual-layered rendering of the Charles Dickens classic, Murray plays Frank Cross, a selfish and cynical high-powered television executive who is in the process of mounting a live production of SCROOGE on his network starring Buddy Hackett as Scrooge and narrated by John Houseman. The countdown to this production finds Frank under a lot of pressure that results in his unjust firing of a member of his executive team (Bobcat Goldthwait) and using and abusing his faithful administrative assistant (Alfre Woodard). He even finds time to neglect the love of his life (Karen Allen) before he is visited by his former business partner (John Forsythe), who informs him he is about to be visited by three ghosts.
Director Richard Donner is no stranger to action and spectacle, the man behind 1978's Superman: The Motion Picture and the original Lethal Weapon and he really knocks it out of the park, creating a lavish fairy tale mounted on a modern canvas, utilizing a very clever screenplay by Mitch Grazer and Michael Donoghue that actually gives us two versions of the same story that never actually meet in the world of this story. I was thoroughly amused by the fact that Cross was producing this elaborate version of SCROOGE on his network and never really made the connection between that production and what was happening to him. For some reason, we believe that the connection is never made thanks to the writing and, of course, to a perfect leading man.
Just as he was with Ghostbusters, Bill Murray was a perfect flippant counterpart to some eye-popping production values that made you believe everything that goes on here. Murray so completely invests in the negative aspects of this character that we don't really care about a lot of the initial rotten that he does and we accept the very slow burn of Cross' acceptance of what he's going through here. I love that after each ghostly encounter, he just brushes it off as drunken hallucinations and does not see the connection to Buddy Hackett and John Houseman at all.
Donner has populated this story with an impressive all-star cast, in lead and bit roles who all serve the story, with standout work from Woodard, an actress who always brings more to her work than the screenplay gives her, Robert Mitchum as Cross' boss and John Glover, an offbeat casting choice as a work rival of Cross' who appears to be after his job. Allen is a charming leading lady who had a nice chemistry with Murray. Carol Kane was a little hard to take as the Ghost of Christmas Present and I really didn't get all the physical violence between her and Cross. I did love Michael J. Pollard, Anne Ramsey, and Bert Remsen as three homeless people who think Cross is Richard Burton.
As mentioned, the film has extraordinary production values, with particular nods to film editing, art direction, visual effects, sound editing, and especially makeup. A dazzling holiday spectacle that totally works thanks to Richard Donner and Bill Murray.
Arguably the most famous and most filmed Christmas story in cinema, gets a big budget, contemporary re-thinking with 1988's Scrooged, a lavish spectacle that totally works thanks to the imaginative direction, flawless production values, and the comic genius that is Bill Murray.
In this dual-layered rendering of the Charles Dickens classic, Murray plays Frank Cross, a selfish and cynical high-powered television executive who is in the process of mounting a live production of SCROOGE on his network starring Buddy Hackett as Scrooge and narrated by John Houseman. The countdown to this production finds Frank under a lot of pressure that results in his unjust firing of a member of his executive team (Bobcat Goldthwait) and using and abusing his faithful administrative assistant (Alfre Woodard). He even finds time to neglect the love of his life (Karen Allen) before he is visited by his former business partner (John Forsythe), who informs him he is about to be visited by three ghosts.
Director Richard Donner is no stranger to action and spectacle, the man behind 1978's Superman: The Motion Picture and the original Lethal Weapon and he really knocks it out of the park, creating a lavish fairy tale mounted on a modern canvas, utilizing a very clever screenplay by Mitch Grazer and Michael Donoghue that actually gives us two versions of the same story that never actually meet in the world of this story. I was thoroughly amused by the fact that Cross was producing this elaborate version of SCROOGE on his network and never really made the connection between that production and what was happening to him. For some reason, we believe that the connection is never made thanks to the writing and, of course, to a perfect leading man.
Just as he was with Ghostbusters, Bill Murray was a perfect flippant counterpart to some eye-popping production values that made you believe everything that goes on here. Murray so completely invests in the negative aspects of this character that we don't really care about a lot of the initial rotten that he does and we accept the very slow burn of Cross' acceptance of what he's going through here. I love that after each ghostly encounter, he just brushes it off as drunken hallucinations and does not see the connection to Buddy Hackett and John Houseman at all.
Donner has populated this story with an impressive all-star cast, in lead and bit roles who all serve the story, with standout work from Woodard, an actress who always brings more to her work than the screenplay gives her, Robert Mitchum as Cross' boss and John Glover, an offbeat casting choice as a work rival of Cross' who appears to be after his job. Allen is a charming leading lady who had a nice chemistry with Murray. Carol Kane was a little hard to take as the Ghost of Christmas Present and I really didn't get all the physical violence between her and Cross. I did love Michael J. Pollard, Anne Ramsey, and Bert Remsen as three homeless people who think Cross is Richard Burton.
As mentioned, the film has extraordinary production values, with particular nods to film editing, art direction, visual effects, sound editing, and especially makeup. A dazzling holiday spectacle that totally works thanks to Richard Donner and Bill Murray.