12/13-Scrooged (1988)

This is another one of those movies I'd see in sitting in Blockbuster, want to rent it, but never did either because we found something more appealing or my mom would semi arbitrarily veto it.  Again, we saw pretty much anything as kids, but my mom would make some judgments based on the cover for a reason to not rent.  In this case, it was probably a three-way tie between the skeleton hand (foreboding some serious violence, which there isn't), the cigar (smoking is the worst, and promoting it is even worse!), and the fact that it's a Christmas movie.  In retrospect, there's really nothing particularly inappropriate about this movie, but a lot of the content would have likely gone above my head.

Anyway, this Christmas Carol adaptation differs the most from the original story than any of the others I've watched so far.  Most notably is the fact that this is a present day (or rather present in 1988) retelling.  In addition, the Scrooge character is not named Scrooge.  In fact none of the characters have their original Dickensian names, with the exception of the Christmas ghosts, although these guys are kinda different as well, but I'll get into that more later.

Basic premise is this: Frank Cross (Bill Murray) plays a hotshot, young TV executive, whose lack of scruples has clearly helped him make it to the top.  He doesn't care about the quality of his programming (programs such as Father Loves Beaver, an innuendic riff on Leave it to Beaver), as long as people are watching, or more specifically, scared to miss it.  Remember, this is a time before DVR, so sitting in front of the TV was a bigger to-do.

Cross' big plan for this year is a massive live performance of The Christmas Carol, which they call Scrooge.  Cross has made it extra extravagant by having simultaneous live bits in other nations around the world.  His first truly Scrooge moment comes in opening boardroom scene where he sees the proposed nice and festive promotion for the Scrooge performance, and instead, supplants it with his own horrifying promotional material.

When one of his employees, Bobcat Goldthwait, questions the use such scare tactics, especially when selling something as wholesome as a Christmas, Cross fires him.  On Christmas eve.  Coldblooded.

Another little casting change they made is that the Bob Cratchit character is black woman, which isn't really important to the story, but it is nice to see that the movie makers being more inclusive, especially when they don't have to be.

Instead of continuing with a close plot reading, I'm just gonna talk about more differences from traditional adaptations.  For starters, typically, the ghost appearances seem to have some sort of time/space distortion.  That is to say that they'll travel all over, but when the ghastly visit is over, it seems to be the same time and place as where it started.  In Scrooged, things happen in real time, and although Cross is the only one who can see and interact with the ghosts, his actions are seen by the other people in the room.  And when he "snaps" out if it, time has progressed and he is in a different place from where he started.

Speaking of the ghosts, their appearances were vastly different than previous iterations.  This type of thing can be weird when dealing with adaptations.  What I mean to say is when you see a film based on a book, the filmmakers may take liberties with the appearance of supernatural beings.  Without having read the subject matter, I didn't know if P-Stew's version followed the book's description or not.  But when The Muppet Christmas Carol had similar iterations, a bright and wispy Past, a giant and hairy Present, and a dark, tall, and faceless Future, it became clear to me that those must be how they are described in the book because why else would they be so similar in appearance?

Not really similar to the androgynous albino from P-Stew's

The Ghost of Christmas Past appears as a gruff and manic taxi driver, who's never seen without a nasty, cheap cigar in his mouth (and subsequently, his teeth).  Foul-mouthed and frantic, he's nothing like previous iterations.  Christmas Present is also significantly different, appearing as a Cyndi Lauper-esque punk rock girl who seems to spread Christmas joy to Cross not through magic dust like other adaptations, but through physical violence.  There's a whole weird scene that's basically just her beating up Bill Murray.  Future is the most traditional, being tall, faceless, and shadowy, but he chooses to show Cross his visions not through holiday magic, but with a chest-mounted TV, which is appropriate because of Cross' role as TV executive.

The last real difference is the importance of the love interest.  In P-Stew's, the lady friend is just used by GC-Past to pain Scrooge and with the Muppets, the character isn't even mentioned because love storylines are not necessary in a Muppet movie.  But in Scrooged, Karen Allen appears in Cross' life throughout the movie, not just through flashbacks, and is present at the end after all the visions have ceased.  And by the way, Karen Allen has the best smile.  Like, it's just so unfair how pretty her smile is.  I would watch a movie of just her smiling.

*swoon*

Her smile alone boosts this movie a notch or two on the heartwarming scale.

Rating on the feel-good-o-meter: 6 out of 10 hugs