So I’ve somehow never seen this before, and decided to fix this on Christmas Eve. Obviously, it’s doing a familiar story, so even if you haven’t seen it, it’s not a movie you go to for surprises; you’re looking at it to see how well it executes on a tweaked Christmas Carol story.

And the answer is: Mostly pretty well, on the basis of a great cast. Bill Murray is obviously the headliner, but tbh, I was a little bit disappointed in his performance — I’m so used to the old, cynical, deadpan Murray that I forgot how manic he was in his younger days. I think if they had made this movie later with Old Murray, it would have been better. But still, he’s fine.

The real stars for me, though, were Carol Kane, doing an amazing Christmas ghost, just absolutely nailing the line between twee and crotchety; and (to my shock) Bobcat Goldthwait, doing a kind of Charlie Day performance as a network executive pushed over the edge.

The movie is extremely a period piece, with a couple of played-for-laughs moments that wouldn’t make it into a modern movie, but also just reflecting the material and cultural world of its era. Like, one of the gifts that Murray’s assistant buys for people on his Christmas list is a VCR. I think that’s meant to be an impersonal-but-expensive gift, but idk, maybe it’s supposed to be cheap by then?

Anyway, this isn’t a great movie in any way, and it doesn’t bear much thinking about; but it’s amiable and sweet in its lightly anarchic way, and really that’s what a Christmas movie needs to deliver, so.