Scrooged is a film from the 1980s that I do not think has aged very well. There was a lot of unnecessary violence in this twist of the classic Dickens tale and a lot of female gaze. I finished the film but wasn’t impressed. Watching this a few years ago, I enjoyed it but as a more mature viewer I saw the many things wrong with it. I only recognised two names, Bill Murray and Carol Kane. The basic premise is that a narcissistic, selfish business man, president of a TV channel is shown his own failures with three ghosts whilst scheduling a live performance of Scrooge on Christmas Eve.
Frank Cross is visited by three ghosts: Christmas Past, Present and Future. They each show him where he has been failing, including firing a man on Christmas Eve for little reason and leaving the love of his life. The film itself is very dated with plenty of prejudice in the work place and Frank’s own views. The way he regarded women was an aspect I didn’t like, at one point kissing a stranger, one of the dancers, just because there was mistletoe above them.
When the disgruntled employee who was fired ends up on the streets after his wife left him and took their daughter, he comes back to the office with a shotgun to kill Frank. In this scene, there was a lot of shouting and screeching by both characters. Americans do love slapstick and gun violence in films but this was a stretch too far. I feel that this film is Bill Murray at his worse. His manic persona was quite off-putting and hard to sympathise with. When he is redeemed at the end, I did not reconcile with the character.
Overall, 3/5. A good premise but ultimately not executed well and it has not aged appropriately. Would not watch again.