cv937_9816.txt

take a look at the following equation . . . . 
a christmas carol+ghostbusters=scrooged 
yes , scrooged is the odd mixture of sentiment , comedy and horror you would get if you mixed those two elements toghether . 
scrooged is alternatively sick , gross , funny , and then sickly soppy . 
bill murray plays frank cross , a t . v executive with a horrible personality . 
he's evil to secretary , actors , crew , everyone , except the t . v's station's boss , of course ( played by the late robert mitchum ) however , he is then visited by a very dead exec , who warns cross that he will be visited by three ghosts , past , present and future ( who is called the ghost of yet to come , for some reason ) sure enough , they arrive , show cross how much of a s . o . b he is , and he changes his way . 
however , throughout this simple plot , we've got to suffer outlandish special effects , poor comedy , and an very , very mean performance from bill murray . 
frank cross isn't 'funny' mean , he's just mean . 
he also isn't very good at emotional scenes , and totally destroys the last ten minutes of the film , with an utterly desperate speech saying how great christmas is , and how he has changed . 
however , the supporting cast are ok , with good performances from mitchum , allen ( who plays his girlfriend ) and john glover ( who plays cross's 'partner' ) the ghost of christmas past isn't that bad either . 
sadly , though , the audience has to suffer 25 minutes of 'home alone' style violence from the ghost of christmas present , played by carol kane . 
whoever thought smacking that kane smacking murray in the head with a toaster was funny , should be fired straight away . 
and the audience also has to suffer bobcat goldthwait ( the guy with the annoying voice in police academy 3 , if i remeber correctly . . . . ) 
who , thankfully , dosen't say much . 
the script is horrendous . 
michael o'donaghue churns out terrible , bad taste jokes ( which i guess is the whole point really ) then changes direction completely to emotional scenes . 
and he must of been on some drug when he wrote the final ten minutes , which are awful . 
the special effects look nice , but do nothing for the film . 
there's some impressive make up effects also . 
the music is also good , which is scored by danny elfman . 
but great effects and make up don't make a great film . 
scrooged is an appaling attempt to inject some christmas spirit into the audience , seeing as the first 1 hour 20 minutes of the film are so depressing anyway , and the last ten minutes had to make up for it with an godawful speech . 
why didn't cross just look out his exec window , and ask a young boy to buy a goose for him ? 
overall , then , you'd have a much better christmas if you avoid this film like something that should be avoided ( perhaps a plague )