No one wants to watch/hear/see A Christmas Carol, or I should say, no one that is me wants to watch/hear/see it. Dickens’ tale isn’t necessarily bad, of course, but it sure is hackneyed as all fuck. I’m just so sick of it (as, I am sure, are you).

Truly, there are a very small number of tellings of said tale that don’t make me wretch. Scrooged is there at the top of that list.

What better way to inject some life into a worn out story than to let apex Bill Murray run rampant over every inch of it. I’m sure you know this movie so I’m not going to go deep into plot here. Murray is the Scrooge character though, and he is fairly bonkers, absolutely channeling the onscreen magic that made Bill Murray, BILL MURRAY. Murray’s character runs a TV station so we get a number of UHF-style gonzo TV moments to help rinse the sentimentality out of our mouths. The rest of the cast is fairly ripe as well with Bobcat Goldthwait, Carol Kane, David Johansen, and Robert Mitchum all pitching in to stir up the could-have-been-stale proceedings. Hell, there’s even a Miles Davis blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo. So keep ’em peeled.

As X-mas flicks go, this is one I can turn to each year without the want to stick needles in my eyes overcoming me completely. I feel bad saying it (because of my deep admiration for the man), but do your best to steer clear of Al Green (and Annie Lennox)’s rendition of “Put A Little Love In Your Heart” that concludes the film. That is, unless you are trying to induce vomiting. For that, the song will work wonders.

Scrooged
1988
dir. Richard Donner
101 min.