Common Sense Media Review
By Charles Cassady Jr.
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dated comedy is part Ghostbusters, part Dickens.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Scrooged
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 8 parent reviews
Based on 14 kid reviews
Kids say that this film combines comedy with darker themes, featuring Bill Murray in a role that showcases both humorous and unsettling moments. While many enjoyed the blend of adult humor and a heartwarming message, numerous reviewers expressed concerns about its appropriateness for younger audiences due to language, sexual content, and some graphic scenes.
- dark humor
- bill murray
- adult themes
- mixed appropriateness
- comedic blend
- heartwarming message
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
In SCROOGED, it's Christmas in New York City, and Frank Cross (Bill Murray)—the selfish, workaholic, hard-drinking, and miserly president of a mythical American TV network—is overseeing a live Christmas Eve performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (the tale is called "Scrooge" throughout, rather than its original title). Thinking only of money and ratings, Frank vulgarizes the classic plot with showgirls and mice (based on a theory that cats are developing TV-watching habits), shrugging off a Christmas-dinner invite from his brother and firing the one programming executive who questions him. Then, in the evenings leading up to the big show, Frank is himself visited by real-life Ghosts of Christmases Past (David Johansen), Present (Carol Kane), and Future (Robert Hammond), who try to show him the error of his ways before it's too late.
Is It Any Good?
In this head-on, overstuffed mashup of two family faves, A Christmas Carol and Ghostbusters, neither one quite wins out. Some early SNL folks worked on Scrooged—Murray most obviously, but also writer Michael O'Donoghue, whose style of humor was often brutally dark. The result is a strange, mood-swingy blend of mistletoe and graveyard mold that doesn't hang together gracefully. A good comedy-fantasy with some heart for the holidays may be buried here, but the movie is heavily tinseled by expensive production values, epic gags, and special effects that tend to go against Dickens' poignancy.
The script eagerly yuppie-bashes—sometimes literally, as Frank is physically punched, slapped, and tortured by hallucinations of catching on fire. Even with isolated genius moments, like Christmas Past as a cabbie in a time-traveling yellow taxi, you feel this movie is exactly the sort of gaudy, violent entertainment Frank himself would air at Christmas. Kids might like that, but when he unintelligibly impersonates Welsh actor Richard Burton or quotes the plant from Little Shop of Horrors, it's funny stand-up but doesn't fit the character well.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about all the different variations on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, including Scrooged. While Dickens was alive, he reportedly hated adaptations of his work. What do you think he would have thought of this one? What makes an adaptation successful, or a flop?
Why is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge such an enduring one? What messages from the tale resonate for you?
Much of the humor here focuses on the shallowness, greed, and sensationalism seen on TV. How has TV changed since the 1980s? What's remained the same?
Movie Details
- In theaters : November 23, 1988
- On DVD or streaming : November 9, 1999
- Cast : Bill Murray , Karen Allen , John Forsythe
- Director : Richard Donner
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Paramount Pictures
- Genre : Comedy
- Topics : Holidays ( Christmas )
- Run time : 101 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Award : Academy Award - Other Category Nominee
- Last updated : December 8, 2025
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