Top Ten Christmas Movies - Number Seven - Scrooged

Another ripper black comedy from yuletide days of yore (is that a thing?), Scrooged is a screwball take on Dickens' Christmas Carol from 1988, starring Bill Murray at roughly the beginning of his actually-fascinating-and-not-just-wacky-novelty phase. Scrooged was Murray's first non-ensemble role, and he carries the film effortlessly on his dour back, encountering the three ghosts who are trying to change his ways before he, well, gets even more dour, I suppose. 

 

Director Richard Donner made the film in-between the first two Lethal Weapon movies, and despite clashing with Murray often on set, he had been pitching Murray to Tim Burton for the role of The Joker in the about-to-be-cast Batman. A couple of moments are a tad too ghoulish for youngsters - one in particular was an unexpected bone-shattering special effect that stayed with me for years - but if you like a touch of mayhem with your Dickensian fables, give it a whirl and see if you think it's aged as well as I do. (Extra props to the supporting work of Karen Allen, Carol Kane from TV's "Taxi", and a bonkers score by Danny Elfman at the peak of his bonkers-ness)