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Scrooged

Actor(s): Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait
Director(s): Richard Donner
39

Details

MPAA Rating: PG-13
Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Scatological Humor
Movie Release: 1988
DVD Release: 11/09/1999
Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Audio Tracks: English, French
Subtitles: English
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
Studio: Paramount
Members Wishing: 29
Genres: Comedy, Satire, Black Comedy, Fantasy Comedy

Synopsis

A darkly comic and surreal contemporization of Charles Dickens's -A Christmas Carol, this effects-heavy Bill Murray holiday vehicle from 1988 sees the former SNL funnyman assuming the role of television executive Frank Cross, the meanest and most depraved man on earth. Cross will stoop to unheard of levels to increase his network's ratings -- even if it means mounting outrageous programs to retain an audience, such as "Robert Goulet's Cajun Christmas" and Lee Majors in "The Night the Reindeer Died," with an AK-47-toting Santa. Cross plots his foulest move, however, for the Christmas holiday, when he will force his office staff to mount a live production of A Christmas Carol on national television -- and thus work through Christmas Eve. Cross's life is turned upside down with visits from three ghosts: a craggy-faced cabbie known as The Ghost of Christmas Past (David Johansen); the sugar-plum fairy Ghost of Christmas Present (Carol Kane) (who gets her jollies by bonking Frank across the face with a toaster oven); and, eventually, the caped, headless Ghost of Christmas Future, who will send Frank sliding into a crematory oven -- just before he gives the sleazoid one last chance to redeem himself. Along the way, the spirits carry Frank to scenes from his past, present, and future (per Scrooge) and impart a glimpse of how he became so thoroughly rotten. The radiant Karen Allen co-stars as Frank's girlfriend, Claire Phillips, and the film packs in cameos from countless celebrities -- among them, Mary Lou Retton, John Houseman, Jamie Farr, and, in a truly grisly and tasteless bit, John Forsythe. Richard Donner directs, from a script credited to the late Michael O'Donoghue and Mitch Glazer. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Cast

Bill Murray - Frank Cross
Karen Allen - Claire Phillips
John Forsythe - Lew Hayward
John Glover - Brice Cummings
Bobcat Goldthwait - Eliot Loudermilk
Carol Kane - Ghost of Christmas Present

Awards

1988	Best Makeup (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Thomas R. Burman
1988	Best Makeup (nominee)	Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie	Bari Drieband-Burman

Editorial Review

Scrooged, Richard Donner's darkly comic retelling of -A Christmas Carol, comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Closed-captioned English soundtracks are rendered in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Surround, while a French soundtrack has also been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. English subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials are limited to a theatrical trailer. The sound and picture on this disc are excellent, but they are the only reason to see this Paramount release. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide