I think “Scrooged” is a better Christmas Carol than “A Christmas Carol”. I think it surpasses the original work in every regard. Do not come at me with “A Muppet Christmas Carol”, that’s endlessly entertaining - I’m talking about telling the essentials of the story in a way that lands the way it wants to.
The movie absolutely depends on its central character, Frank Cross, and talking about him starts with the actor, Bill Murray. Murray shines in roles like this - as a con artist, a grifter, a smooth talker whose mouth keeps him running away from whatever doom is casting its shadow over him. Peter Venkman (“Ghostbusters”) faced disasters both professional and physical this way, and Bob Harris (“Lost in Translation”) was the burned-out remnant of the man whose end had already come.
As Frank, Murray faces the specter of specters with detached bemusement. He’s trapped by the power of the Christmas miracle that’s inflicting itself on him, so what can he do but smart-mouth them? But he really does feel things - he’s just terrified to feel them. He has an old flame and surprises himself by learning he still carries that torch. He’s ascended to his high position at the television network by shedding his humanity, but it hasn’t really left him - it’s still there, buried deep in his soul, and Christmas is going to force him to confront it.
It’s these sins - not just the casual mistreatment of his employees, as with the original story, not just being a miser - that make Frank Cross better than Scrooge. In the original story, the Ghost of Christmas Future shows Scrooge his own mortal end. This is a terrifying thing to think about, to be sure, but what really breaks Frank in this segment is seeing a future Claire learn the lesson his old self tried to teach her - “stop caring, it’s the only way you’ll survive”.
Put bluntly, we empathize more with Frank than with Scrooge because Frank consciously confesses just what an asshole he’s been. He doesn’t just do it to some invisible forgiving spirits - he admits it on live television, in front of an audience of millions. He doesn’t just turn around and become a better person because he had to face his mortality. He becomes a better person by recognizing and acknowledging what an awful person he was. That insight - that perception - is what will keep him a good person going forward. His moral compass is finally pointing forward.
Frank can’t do it without the spirits. His Marley equivalent is a terrifying ghoul, of course, but really, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future are vital. They aren’t just passive guides on some nebulous journey of self-improvement. They torment Frank, sometimes verbally, sometimes physically. But by the time we meet them, we’re pretty sure he’s earned it. The ending makes it clear that the spirits are absolutely on his side, and have been the whole time. In response to being called out by name on the live show, Claire flags down a taxi, and breathlessly asks, “can you get me to the IBC Building in three minutes?” It’s a familiar face who answers her with a grin and two words: “which floor?”
Part of the movie’s brilliance is framing Frank Cross as putting on a live “Christmas Carol”, just so we can see the contrast between the two stories. Scrooge buys his put-upon employee Bob Cratchit a Christmas goose. By contrast, Frank uses a gun-toting recently fired employee to hijack the show and bare his soul to the world. While Scrooge was never at risk of losing any of his material possessions, Frank gambles literally everything he’s built up - his wealth and position - for the chance at being a better man.
The ending has problems, to be sure. But you can forgive some of them if you let the emotional currents carry you through. It’s just a guy, struggling to come to grips with an inner transformation, fumbling for words to express the light he can finally see.
It’s profoundly weird in a logical, rational sense - but I don’t think it should be taken as a “realistic” scene. The “Scrooge” stand-in is literally standing in the middle of a set of a “Christmas Carol” show. That meta, show-within-a-show quality, let me step out of my disbelief about the framing of the situation and just listen to what Frank tells us about his transformation.
Two quotes stick out to me in Frank’s monologue.
“For a couple of hours out of the whole year, we are the people that we always hoped we would be.” This is a great summary of the Christmas spirit, but Frank makes the crucial connection - Christmas is permission to be this way, but you need not confine yourself to being like this on Christmas.
“And if you like it and you want it, you’ll get greedy for it!” It’s the phrasing of this quote that makes it a Frank Cross quote to me. “Greed is good” said Gordon Gekko (“Wall Street”). Frank has lived his life as a greedy man. Now he’s saying it’s okay to want things and go after them - but what you go after, what you are greedy for, can make you a better person. Finally, he’s found something where greed doesn’t have to hurt people.
“Scrooged” is not a popular film - it’s got a 38 score on Metacritic - but I don’t always like popular things. I think it has virtues, and I acknowledge it has flaws. What I think is that it doesn’t let its protagonist off the hook, not even when he’s kissing his love interest. The miracle he’s received may cost him everything, but Bill Murray - who as an actor has faced doom with a stone face and a quip - has Frank Cross greet that possibility with laughter and smiles.