"Scrooged" (1988) - Part 3

A few thoughts about the characters from "Scrooged," the comedic modern version of "A Christmas Carol" from 1988, and how they relate to the characters from the original book.

The movie follows the basic structure of the book, with Frank Cross, the Scrooge surrogate played by Murray, ostensibly being redeemed by visits from the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come and within those sequences are people in his life who are parallels to characters from the book, but they're changed around a bit.

Frank's secretary is obviously meant to represent Bob Cratchit in that she works directly under him and has a bunch of kids, the youngest of which has an affliction (the Tiny Tim surrogate) and is somewhat put-upon. She doesn't act in a Cratchit-like manner, however, as she doesn't seem to take just anything her boss dishes out. She's competent and Frank relies on her.

I think Bob Cratchit is also kind of spun off into the "Elliot" character played by Bobcat Goldthwait, whom Frank fires on the day before Christmas Eve. Are they borrowing this idea from the 1938 MGM version of "A Christmas Carol" with Regnal Owen? The scenes with Elliot to me are so over the top that they clash with the tone of the rest of the movie.

So, while some of the Cratchit-ness is spread around, the characters of Jacob Marley and Fezziwig are merged into that of Frank's former boss, played by John Forsythe. This character fills the Marley role of warning Frank to change his ways, but also hosts the Christmas party in the past, as Fezziwig did. That kind of makes Fezziwig evil, though, doesn't it? Ooh, I don't like that!

The would-be Belle character of "Claire," as played by Karen Allen, has a greatly expanded role here. She seems to be modeled off of "Alice," the Belle character from the 1951 "Scrooge" with Alastair Sim, in that she's a social worker and did not marry someone else in the interim.

It feels like Claire has been waiting for Frank to come around, and while this leads to a happy ending (I think?), it weakens the idea that Frank truly missed out on some happiness in his life, especially considering the character is not all that old and has plenty of time ahead to spend with Claire.

The idea of Scrooge's nephew Fred is taken by Frank's younger brother "James," who's played by John Murray, younger brother of Bill. They seem to have a relatively good relationship, even if Frank gives James cheap Christmas gifts. Frank also doesn't seem to resent James being married.

Two other brothers of Bill Murray also get in on the act. His older brother Brain Doyle Murray plays Frank's father on the Christmas Past sequence and their younger brother Joel plays one of the guests celebrating with James (who's John Murray). I think that Joel looks like a family member and maybe is supposed to be a cousin, but the relationship is unclear.

There are a couple of other characters with fairly prominent roles in the movie who don't appear to have a connection with the book.

One is the Frank's somewhat clueless big boss, played by Robert Mitchum, and the other is Frank's smarmy rival, played by John Glover. Their only purpose seems to be to provide further stress for Frank. They could each probably use some ghostly intervention themselves!

So, there are some interesting characters with an interesting cast.

As with anything, your mileage may vary!

"Scrooged" (1988) - Part 2

As I mentioned last time, I was disappointed in "Scrooged" (1988), the modern take on "A Christmas Carol" starring Bill Murray, upon its initial release. While keeping an open mind, I watched it again after all these years.

Has my opinion changed? Sadly, no. I still don't really care for it.

My main problem with it, then and now, is that I just think it's really unpleasant. I understand that Bill Murray's "Frank Cross" character is supposed to be somewhat "evil" as he needs to be reformed, but he's just so nasty and not all that funny. He gets off some good one-liners here and there - how could Bill Murray not - but there aren't enough of them and I think this is a comedy.

Early on, he makes a quip about scaring the Dickens out of people. OK, kinda funny, but he repeats it and says that nobody gets it. We do get it! It doesn't need to be hammered into the ground. That sets a weird tone to me.

Bill Murray's appeal at this point in his career was as a wiseguy who was sort above it all, conning everyone with fake sincerity. He's not like that here and I don't think he had developed the acting chops yet to be taken seriously.

His big speech at the end is weird and doesn't seem like any kind of redemption. I'm not sure if it's the script of if he's ad-libbing, but it just makes me scratch my head.

I think by the time "Groundhog Day" rolled around a few years later, Bill Murray was much better playing a jerky guy who was redeemed through supernatural forces. It also probably helped that the director of that movie was Harold Ramis, who had worked with Bill in the past and was perhaps more understanding of his style.

I've heard that Bill Murray clashed creatively with "Scrooged" director Richard Donner, which doesn't surprise me. Murray says he was directed to yell a lot and he certainly does that. I somehow feel like Donner was more interested in the special effects than anything else.

I do think that said special effects are way over the top in a very 1980s way. That was the decade of excess, right?

I also don't like the ghosts, especially Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present. She mainly is just causing bodily harm to Frank. I'm not sure what the point is and it's not funny at all. 

This movie seems to be somewhat polarizing, but there's no doubt what camp I'm in. And I can't be the only one who would rather have just been able to watch the version with Buddy Hackett as Scrooge!

Since that fictitious production is only incidental to this move, I don't really consider this to be an adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" and I certainly don't consider Bill Murray to be playing Scrooge.

"Scrooged" (1988) - Part 1

"Scrooged" (1988)

Director: Richard Donner

Scrooge: Buddy Hackett

Scrooge Surrogate: "Frank Cross" (Bill Murray)

The direct-to-video special "A Sesame Street Christmas Carol" (2006) reminded me more than anything of the 1988 Bill Murray vehicle "Scrooged."

That may seem like an odd connection, but they both take the basic framework of "A Christmas Carol" with a Scrooge surrogate in (apparent) need of redemption.

"Scrooged" was something of a big deal back in the day, as it marked Bill Murray's first starring comedy since "Ghostbusters" (1984). Those four years must have seem an eternity to the suits, as Bill Murray was a hot commodity not being used.

Here's the trailer to set the mood:

Cutting to the chase, I was looking forward to this release at the time, but I felt disappointed. I hadn't seen it since, so would I be surprised that the movie is better than I remembered?

Hmmm...