I ain’t afraid of no Ghost of Christmas Future.
A couple more movies from our Christmas Movie Marathon that I’ve yet to write up. First: Scrooged.
Scrooged is a hilarious retelling of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ centering on Bill Murray as Frank Cross, a classic selfish TV executive who’s in the middle of producing a live broadcast musical version of the Dickens classic. Like Ebenezer Scrooge himself, Cross is visited by three ghosts (this time, in the days leading up to Christmas rather than all on Christmas Eve) sent to show him past, present, and future. You know the rest of the story.
I really enjoyed it, primarily because I had no idea what to expect (an effect I just ruined for you). The title and DVD cover suggest it’s Christmas comedy starring Bill Murray, so I knew it’d be a fit for the Christmas Movie Marathon. The film had me laughing out loud throughout, and the reimagining of ‘A Christmas Carol’ focusing on a character trying to reimagine the story himself was quite clever.
Billy Murray’s 1980′s career is something I’m only beginning to discover. After seeing Stripes, rewatching Ghostbusters, and making Scrooged part of the marathon, it’s become obvious why he’s revered as a comedic master. I’ve always enjoyed the deadpan humour in his 2000′s filmography, and I imagine that it’d be even funnier if I’d grown up with his 1980′s slapstick.