It pains me to say that until last night, I had never seen Richard Donner‘s 1988 holiday flick, Scrooged.  This Bill Murray classic left me appalled, touched, and literally laughing out loud.

Murray (one of the funniest men ever) plays Frank Cross, the brutally selfish and insensitive leader of a big time television network who has scheduled a mildly inappropriate show about Ebenezer Scrooge to be broadcast live on Christmas Eve.  Frank is quite the Scrooge himself, and is soon visited by his deceased boss who begs him to change his devilish ways.  Here begins Frank’s own journey through time with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, where he of course learns a very important holiday lesson.

Murray plays the perfect grinch-goes-good, adding just the right amount of anger and sarcastic humor to a deep-down good man. The supporting characters, including Karen Allen as Frank’s kind, compassionate love interest Claire, and Carol Kane as the quirky, upbeat Ghost of Christmas Present, provide an excellent counter-balance to Murray’s dark humor.

But Scrooged is not the kind of movie you can watch lightly. The funniest parts lie within the cracks of the plot, in Bill Murray‘s facial expressions and voice volume shifts, or any small scene with Bobcat Goldthwait (who plays Eliot Loudermilk, an employee who Frank fires on Christmas Eve). So finish eating dinner, put away your holiday wrapping, and make time with friends to really sit down and watch this one without distractions.  You’ll find yourself laughing throughout, and undoubtedly singing along to the predictable happy ending – a conclusion that screams the spirit of Gleecember.