Scrooge & Marley (2012)

Scrooge & Marley (2012)

Directors: Richard Knight Jr., Peter Neville
Writers: Timothy Imse, Richard Knight Jr., Ellen Stoneking
Genres: Drama, Family, Music
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 91 min
Year: 2012

Stars: David Pevsner, Tim Kazurinsky, Rusty Schwimmer

Dennis Harvey
Film Critic
Billed as “a holiday movie for all of us,” “Scrooge & Marley” is in fact very niche, being of and for that segment of the gay community that enjoys watered-down camp and syrupy empowerment messages, which are not to be confused with the good kinds of either. This spin on “A Christmas Carol” delivers a heavy-handed morality play that Dickens himself might have found gauche, sugar-coated with weak songs and broad performances. Playing scattered theatrical runs between now and Christmas, the pic figures to do modest but better biz from its home-format release next month.

Raining on his employees’ seasonal cheer (even firing one of them), Ebenezer, aka Ben, Scrooge (David Pevsner) shutters the gay nightclub he ripped off long ago from a former benefactor (the inevitable Bruce Vilanch) and settles in for a grumpy solo Christmas Eve. But he’s visited first by Marley (Tim Kazurinsky), his former partner in ruthless gay-community bilking, now a salvation-seeking denizen of purgatory.

As in the Dickens story, three more ghosts follow: Christmas Past (Ronnie Kroell), who helps Ben revisit his homophobic father and other contributors to his greedy, mean adult personality; Present (Megan Cavanagh), who shows how forgiving the people around him are; and Future (JoJo Baby), who promises Scrooge’s customarily bleak reward. Scrooge redeems himself, natch, though the maudlin final scenes are cringe-inducing.

Of course, it’s impossible to do a “Carol” without sentimentality — Scrooge’s whole journey is about thawing his heart. But “S&M” (get it?) is so crude and literal-minded in its gay reinterpretation that no genuine emotion can get past the script’s compilation of cliches. Execution isn’t much better, with a low budget that might’ve been turned to a more imaginative pic’s advantage, but here is charmlessly obvious, with tacky f/x and stagy interiors; indeed, the material could translate to a proscenium with little alteration.

Shot in Chicago, the pic clumsily uses frequent blackouts to transition between scenes in a mediocre tech/design package.
Source: Variety.com

Scrooge & Marley (2012)

• Directors: Peter Neville, Richard Knight Jr.

• Writers:Ellen Stoneking, Richard Knight Jr., Timothy Imse

• Country:USA

• Genres:Drama, Family, Music, Romance

• Runtime:91 minutes

• Actors:
  Scrooge

  David Pevsner

  Marley

  Tim Kazurinsky

  Freda

  Rusty Schwimmer

  Fezziwig

  Bruce Vilanch

  Ghost of Christmas Present

  Megan Cavanagh

  Colin

  Richard Ganoung

  Bob Cratchit

  David Moretti

  Randy – Ghost of Christmas Past

  Ronnie Kroell

  Young Scrooge

  Drew Anderson

  Young Marley

  Nicholas Bailey

• Language:English

• Plots:

  A modern day variation on Charles Dickens’ classic story of the holidays, A Christmas Carol. On Christmas Eve, Ben Scrooge, the man who hates the holidays, is given the chance to begin again when he is visited by three spirits — the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Revisiting the tragic missteps of his life enables Scrooge to rediscover the joy of the holiday season and make a journey back to love. Recounted from a gay sensibility with heart, comedy and music, the magic of Dickens’ timeless tale comes alive from a fresh perspective that will appeal to audiences of all persuasions.

  – Written by
  Anonymous

  ---

  Scrooge & Marley is a modern variation on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Recounted from a gay sensibility with heart, comedy & music, the magic of Dickens’ timeless tale of a man’s redemption comes alive from a fresh perspective.

  – Written by
  Anonymous

• Rating: (59 votes)