Ms. Scrooge (1997)

As Good As It Gets

A lot of fun.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Honestly, I can't believe this movie received money from backers to even be made.The acting was abysmal. The editing was atrocious! The directing was lacking. The story was ridiculous. The fact that they modernized this story wasn't an issue, others have done that very successfully. But why did they feel the need to turn Scrooge into a black woman? What purpose did that serve. I don't have an issue with that, but they didn't pull it off well at all. It was a poorly made statement that served no purpose to the story.What a complete laugh. Absolutely horrible, not that I expected anything of higher quality from the Hallmark channel.Don't waste your time.

The premise of an African-American female Scrooge in the modern, struggling city was inspired, but nothing else in this film is. Here, Ms. Scrooge is a miserly banker who takes advantage of the employees and customers in the largely poor and black neighborhood it inhabits. There is no doubt about the good intentions of the people involved. Part of the problem is that story's roots don't translate well into the urban setting of this film, and the script fails to make the update work. Also, the constant message about sharing and giving is repeated so endlessly, the audience becomes tired of it well before the movie reaches its familiar end. This is a message film that doesn't know when to quit. In the title role, the talented Cicely Tyson gives an overly uptight performance, and at times lines are difficult to understand. The Charles Dickens novel has been adapted so many times, it's a struggle to adapt it in a way that makes it fresh and relevant, in spite of its very relevant message.

It amazes me how many ways a simple story like Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" can be interpreted. We have the pleasure of watching Cicely Tyson (Idlewild, A Lesson Before Dying) in another strong role.John Korty, who directed Ms. Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, again directs her as Ms. Ebenita Scrooge. Veteran writer John McGreevey interprets the familiar tale.Katherine Helmond ("Soap", "Whose the Boss") was funny as Marley, and Michael Beach ("Third Watch", Short Cuts) was super as her nephew.It was a different twist on a familiar story, told from an African-American perspective, and it really warmed the heart.Of course, you all know how it ends.

Too many tragedies and disappointments made Ms. Scrooge start to build walls. She wasn't born that way. In fact, at the start of the show, she was very open and giving. As the spirits review her life, you share both the joys and sadness that have come her way--and feel sad at the way things will turn out if she doesn't change. The final scene will be sure to get to you even if nothing else gets to you first--and I can assure you that you'll, more likely than not, be "gotten to" and will be reaching for the tissues long before then!