Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing a staff member on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.
Scrooged is a solid, entertaining modernisation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol transplanted into the cutthroat 1980s television world. Bill Murray's sardonic, charismatic performance is the engine of the film, elevating material that is ultimately faithful to its well-worn source. The supporting cast — including Carol Kane's hilariously violent Ghost of Christmas Present — delivers genuine comic invention. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable for the era. The plot hews closely to the Dickens template, so novelty is modest despite some sharp satirical barbs at network television culture. The ending, while crowd-pleasing, leans heavily into sentimentality and Murray's improvised speech runs a touch long, slightly deflating the landing.