Quartile rating: 5.5/10 · 1 rating
Bill Murray worries no one will show up to his TV show due to a massive snowstorm in New York City. Through luck and perseverance, guests arrive at Gotham’s Carlyle Hotel to help him — dancing and singing in holiday spirit.
A Very Murray Christmas is a charming but slight holiday special that leans heavily on Bill Murray's persona and Sofia Coppola's aesthetic sensibility. The plot is essentially a thin premise to string together musical numbers — Murray moping about a failed TV special gradually gives way to celebrity cameos and song. The acting is warm and loose, with Murray doing his signature melancholic-yet-charming thing well, and guests like Miley Cyrus and Phoenix acquit themselves ably. Coppola's cinematography gives the Carlyle Hotel a dreamy, intimate glow that elevates what could have been a generic TV special. The novelty comes from its unusual hybrid of Coppola's art-house sensibility with a classic variety-show format, which feels genuinely singular even if neither element is revolutionary. The ending is abrupt and somewhat unsatisfying — it resolves nothing dramatically and simply fades out on a surreal note that feels more like an excuse to stop than a meaningful conclusion.