I was pleased to see that Netflix has the 1988 Bill Murray Christmas comedy Scrooged available, and I re-watched it last night, probably for first time since viewing it on VHS tape in perhaps '89 or '90.
After Groundhog Day, the obviously best thing he has done, I reckon Scrooged is the second best movie Murray has ever been in.
I don't quite understand why so it got some (although not uniformly) really bad reviews - at Rottentomatoes the summary of the Variety review is "An appallingly unfunny comedy, and a vivid illustration of the fact that money can't buy you laughs." (The original review is no longer at the link, so I can't see any more.)
Well, I liked it the first time I saw it, and it made me (and my son) laugh quite a lot last night Murray does "obnoxious guy redeemed" very well; Carol Kane's violent fairy act is eccentric and very funny for it; and was Bobcat Goldwhait ever better? It even felt strangely relevant to America today, with its mocking of gun laden violence entertainment in the first 5 minutes, and even featuring a crack about Trump Towers!
I had also completely forgotten that Karen Allen played the love interest, and her open, smiling face is given lots of screen space in a way that makes you feel that she simply must be a charming, lovely person in real life. She was never exactly classically beautiful; maybe her looks and voice just always hit a sweet spot of "potentially accessible imaginary girlfriend" to the average male viewer?
Anyway, a happy re-visit to a pretty good movie.
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