Product Description

A RUTHLESS TV-NETWORK CHIEF MEETS THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMASES PAST, PRESENT AND YET TO COME.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #497 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 1999-11-09
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Most critics couldn't get behind Bill Murray's modern retelling of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, finding it too unfocused at times and not nearly wicked enough. Still, if you're a Murray fan, you have to enjoy his deliciously nasty portrayal of the world's meanest TV executive, who has his cathartic moment one cold Christmas night in New York City. The various ghosts lead him on a ghost-town tour of Manhattan, with stops at holidays past, present, and future and a Kumbaya moment when Al Green and Annie Lennox sing "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." The effects are otherworldly, but one wishes the writing were as sharp as Murray's edgy portrayal. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

A very Scroogey Holiday Classic
Bill Murray is the new Scrooge in the classic tale done yet again. I remember a reviewer giving it a low rating because he said it seemed as though Murray's character really didn't like people. Helllooo, isn't that what actors are supposed to do? This version of the old Chrsitmas tale is a good retelling of the story. Murray is mean to everyone including his only brother (played by his real younger brother). The 3 spirits that visit Frank Cross (Murray's role) are wacky to say the least. Carol Kane plays the ghost of Christmas present and is probably the funniest of the spirits. Murray has this act down pat. He's a big t.v. exec and fires Elliot Laudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait) just for disagreeing with him. By the way, his fires Laudermilk on Christmas eve.

Alfre Woodard plays his longsuffering assistant and tries to be Cross' conscience since he doesn't have one of his own. In the visit to Christmas past we learn that television played the biggest role in raising him since his parents weren't the greatest in the world. Christmas doesn't mean much because his parents didn't put up Christmas lights, buy a tree or get him presents. His father does come home one night and drop a package of veal in front of him as a Christmas gift but the young Frank Cross tells his dad that he wanted a choo-choo train. His dad, a butcher, (played by Brain Doyle Murray, Bill Murray's real life brother) is totally unsympathetic and suggests that his son get a job even though he's only four.

There are lots of laughs here as the cast pokes fun at the t.v. industry from behind this comedy. The end of the film might be a little mushy bit it's fine here since Cross is so mean during the rest of the film. He even steals a cab from a little old lady carrying a load of packages. This movie would fit nicely in your holiday collection.

Parents Advisory: There is no nudity or sex. However, there is a small bit of foul language. It may frighten very young children. I suggest a viewing age of at least thirteen.

Do you really NEED to read a review?
Since the first time I ever saw this movie, I have watched it a few times a year, never tiring of the modern take on the Dickens classic. Bill Murray is excellently cast as cold hearted TV exec Frank Cross and with each scene, the movie draws you ever-closer to the Christmas feeling.

I watch this EVERY Christmas Eve and no matter how bad a year you've had, by the time this movie finishes and it's time to go to bed before Father Christmas comes, you'll be in the true Spirit of the Season.

I've yet to meet someone who doesn't lean towards this as their movie of choice for the festive period. And now... I finally get to see it on DVD!

Scrooged
This is a great Christmas movie! It is a new take on an old favorite that stars Bill Murray. He plays the sharp tongued Frank Cross, and he is really good at being mean. David Johansen was scary as the ghost of Christmas past, Carol Kane was the ghost of Christmas present, and Chaz Conner was the ghost of Christmas future. Carol Kane was a scream, and I am sure Bill Murray had a bruise or two when they finished filming.