A Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story and I love seeing the various on-screen incarnations of it, both traditional and contemporary. Somehow, this particular retelling missed the mark, though.
It certainly had potential. Emmanuelle Vaugier was perfect for the role of the beautiful but venomous Carol, the Scrooge-like character. Carrie Fisher did fine as the only ghost in this movie, her deceased boss Eve, though, unlike others, I didn't think it was an exceptional performance, just adequate. Since Carol and Eve had been friends in real life, you had ample opportunities for amusing banter between them, unlike the interactions between the original Scrooge and his ghosts. I also liked that, instead of just showing the dismal future that would await an unrepentant Carol, they also showed the rich, full future that awaited her as a happy mother and grandmother if she changed her ways and went back to her one true love, Ben.
What was really a miss for me was the transition between the old evil Carol and the new nice one. For pretty much the whole time she was with Eve in their various journeys, she was still the same mean, soulless, cynical person, a person that was extremely difficult for us to like, even with hints of backstory that indicated she was once much nicer. Then, at the last scene in the graveyard, she suddenly has this epiphany and makes a complete 180 degree turnaround into this sweet angel. Her hair and makeup are even different, as if that would change overnight. The change was just too abrupt and there was nothing believable about it. I liked the new, repentant Carol, but I just wished they had found ways to make her character more likable, or at least relatable, before that transition.
I also thought her breakup with her boyfriend Ben was handled badly, and, to be honest, I kind of agreed with her reasoning a bit. If he was just working on his novel, had no other job and was having her support him, and wasn't even writing a novel that would be financially successful, I can see how she might not be happy about it. I hate it how screenwriters for these movies always push the "you've gotta follow your dream" message when it comes to being a writer (or any job in the arts or performing arts). Those screenwriters have achieved their dream and they act like it's easy for anyone to do the same, as long as they "believe in their dream" enough. In the real world, it's extremely hard to make a living as a writer, artist, actor or singer. It's not unreasonable for the significant other of such a person to become tired of that person sitting on their butt and not contributing to the couple's finances while they ostensibly pursue their "dream".
The relationship between her and Ben was kind of a miss for me, too. Not much chemistry and no real indication why they should be a couple, let alone why both would still be in love with each other after 10 years apart. It might have spiced things up a bit if he had moved on and gotten another girlfriend, even if his heart was really still with Carol.
Sad that this Christmas Carol reimagining wasn't handled better. A little less sloppy a script would have gone a long way toward making this retelling memorable rather than forgettable.
It certainly had potential. Emmanuelle Vaugier was perfect for the role of the beautiful but venomous Carol, the Scrooge-like character. Carrie Fisher did fine as the only ghost in this movie, her deceased boss Eve, though, unlike others, I didn't think it was an exceptional performance, just adequate. Since Carol and Eve had been friends in real life, you had ample opportunities for amusing banter between them, unlike the interactions between the original Scrooge and his ghosts. I also liked that, instead of just showing the dismal future that would await an unrepentant Carol, they also showed the rich, full future that awaited her as a happy mother and grandmother if she changed her ways and went back to her one true love, Ben.
What was really a miss for me was the transition between the old evil Carol and the new nice one. For pretty much the whole time she was with Eve in their various journeys, she was still the same mean, soulless, cynical person, a person that was extremely difficult for us to like, even with hints of backstory that indicated she was once much nicer. Then, at the last scene in the graveyard, she suddenly has this epiphany and makes a complete 180 degree turnaround into this sweet angel. Her hair and makeup are even different, as if that would change overnight. The change was just too abrupt and there was nothing believable about it. I liked the new, repentant Carol, but I just wished they had found ways to make her character more likable, or at least relatable, before that transition.
I also thought her breakup with her boyfriend Ben was handled badly, and, to be honest, I kind of agreed with her reasoning a bit. If he was just working on his novel, had no other job and was having her support him, and wasn't even writing a novel that would be financially successful, I can see how she might not be happy about it. I hate it how screenwriters for these movies always push the "you've gotta follow your dream" message when it comes to being a writer (or any job in the arts or performing arts). Those screenwriters have achieved their dream and they act like it's easy for anyone to do the same, as long as they "believe in their dream" enough. In the real world, it's extremely hard to make a living as a writer, artist, actor or singer. It's not unreasonable for the significant other of such a person to become tired of that person sitting on their butt and not contributing to the couple's finances while they ostensibly pursue their "dream".
The relationship between her and Ben was kind of a miss for me, too. Not much chemistry and no real indication why they should be a couple, let alone why both would still be in love with each other after 10 years apart. It might have spiced things up a bit if he had moved on and gotten another girlfriend, even if his heart was really still with Carol.
Sad that this Christmas Carol reimagining wasn't handled better. A little less sloppy a script would have gone a long way toward making this retelling memorable rather than forgettable.