Scrooged...Lives UP!

 

Sometimes you're not in the mood for a warm and fuzzy Christmas movie. Sometimes you're feeling queasy from the eggnog and dips and cookies, and if you hear one more bad cover of "Last Christmas", you're going to punch out the car radio. Sometimes you're sick of the Cyber Monday Extended! emails continuing until January. Sometimes you're over folding neat corners with non-recyclable wrapping paper, and slapping a plastic ribbon on that, and where the hell are the To/From tags? I mean, will anyone even notice the packaging? All of the trappings of this holiday will end up in a landfill. Bah, humbug.

Luckily... if the Christmas season leaves you wanting to watch bad things happen to bad people, there's Scrooged! 

This film is a snarky version of A Christmas Carol** set in the urban hellscape of 1980's New York City. Bill Murray plays... himself... again... but this time he's a cynical television executive who gifts his closest family and friends the branded towels that he found for free in the network's swag pile. Which is to say, he starts the film as the worst-cast Bill Murray. 

Then Carol Kane kicks him in the balls a few times. This makes him more of an Okay-ish Bill Murray.  The End. 

America loves a redemption story, and Scrooged gets close enough to make this a satisfying watch 30+ years later. Some bits are dated, especially the plotline that leads a fired employee to return to the office with a gun (was this ever funny? Or have the decades of mass shootings tempered our enjoyment?).

Still, we thought that Scrooged lives up to our memories of it. Karen Allen charms as Claire, and Jess was just so grateful to see someone who can go toe-to-toe with Murray (unlike cough-Andie-cough-cough-MacDowell). The rest of the cast does a great job as well. Especially the random cameos.

Karen Allen is the best part of so many movies!

So... when the holiday rush has you reaching for the TAB and Stoli vodka... go find Scrooged. Put your feet up! Ignore the holiday chaos all for 2 hours! The sprinkle-coated mess will still be there. 

Listen to our review of Scrooged below, on Spotify or your favorite podcast platform, or on Youtube. Merry Christmas!

**This film was the first exposure Jess had to A Christmas Carol, so she thought that other versions were the non-snarky, wholesome remakes of Scrooged.