If you’ve seen Scrooged then you might know, and if you’ve never seen it you still may have guessed, it’s not a great movie. It’s not bad, but there are better Christmas movies out there. In fact, there are better Dickens-inspired Christmas movies out there. But do you know what this movie has and others do not? Bill Fucking Murray.

The man’s a legend, so any movie he deigns to appear in has immediate cool factor. And in Scrooged, you get 4 Murrays for the price of 1: three of his brothers appear in this movie with him, one playing his brother, and another playing his dad! (The third plays “party guest” – you can’t win em all).

Murray plays the would-be-Jacob-Marley character, and there’s no one better suited to play such a depraved, misanthropic, crotchety role. That’s him at his best. So why then did director Richard Donner muddy it up with gimmicks, forced laughs, and production values that nobody asked for? It feels like Donner didn’t trust his leading man, but this movie would have been a heck of a lot funnier if Murray had been allowed off his leash.

In the holiday mood? Feeling Christmassy? Read Jay’s review of Love Actually here, and be sure to cast your vote for all-time favourite Christmas movie. Expect more Christmas reviews in the days and weeks to come.