Johnny Depp's Scrooge film opens on 13 November, and the first reviews pull in different directions.
Johnny Depp's Scrooge film Ebenezer opens in cinemas on Friday, 13 November, and the first reviews do not agree on whether it earns a place among the many screen versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Ti West directs the PG-13 film, which runs 1 hour 56 minutes and gives the story a horror-tinged, Gothic look. Depp and West also landed in a chilly London for the film's global premiere.
The Hollywood Reporter found the film an effective comeback vehicle for Depp. Its critic wrote that "Johnny Depp really needed a comeback vehicle, and he's found an effective one", and that the film "fulfills its ostensible goal of restoring the actor to A-list status". The verdict was short: "Gets the ghostly job done."
Variety's Guy Lodge was less convinced. He called Depp "a perfectly solid, by-the-book Scrooge" and said the film is "a pretty chilly affair". He also called production designer Eve Stewart "the film's clear MVP".
Deadline sat closer to The Hollywood Reporter. Its review said Depp "clearly is having a blast playing it to the hilt" and that he "manages to unearth more humanity in Ebenezer Scrooge than previous versions that saved all that for the inevitable happy ending." The same review was less sure about the project itself: "I am not sure the world needed yet another dance with Dickens and Scrooge." It also said the marketing wants us to believe the film is all new, but it really isn't, for the most part: it is "just an excuse for Depp to play in the sandbox."
TheWrap was the harshest. Its review said the film "fails to meet that expectation", the expectation set by its own tagline, "the name you know, the story you don't". It said the screenplay by Nathaniel Halpern "does the film no favors".
The story will be familiar to most readers. Ian McKellen plays Jacob Marley, Scrooge's business partner. The Hollywood Reporter notes that Halpern's screenplay adds backstory, with Marley "still alive in the pre-credits prologue". Rupert Grint plays Bob Cratchit, Sam Claflin plays Scrooge's nephew Fred, and Daisy Ridley plays Fred's wife Clara.
Andrea Riseborough plays the Ghost of Christmas Past, which Variety describes as "a wheezy, tulle-swaddled ghost bride with boiled-egg eyes". Emmy-winning Severance star Tramell Tillman plays the Ghost of Christmas Present, and Variety finds in him "compellingly surly energy". TheWrap goes further, saying Tramell Tillman's performance makes him "the stand-out character" of the film. Robert Strange plays the Ghost of Christmas Future, who "introduces himself by having a crow fly out of his mouth", as The Hollywood Reporter puts it.
No comments yet