Enter a Rotten Tomatoes movie slug to inspect the stored movie, batches, snapshots, and reviews.
Movie ID: 1456
RT slug: scrooged
RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scrooged
Release year: 1988
Runtime: 101 mins
Wide release date: —
Limited release date: —
Festival premiere date: —
Streaming release date: 2014-06-06
Tomatometer final: 72%
Audience score final: 71%
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Holiday
Directors: Richard Donner
Writers: Michael O'Donoghue, Mitch Glazer
Producers: Art Linson, Richard Donner
MPAA rating: PG-13
Executive Producers: —
Created: 2026-10-05 20:50:23
Updated: 2026-10-05 20:50:23
In this modern take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Frank Cross (Bill Murray) is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life, Claire Phillips (Karen Allen). But after firing a staff member, Eliot Loudermilk (Bobcat Goldthwait), on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.
Scrooged gets by with Bill Murray and a dash of holiday spirit, although it's hampered by a markedly conflicted tone and an undercurrent of mean-spiritedness.
Canonical reviews: 53
Canonical fresh: 38
Canonical rotten: 15
Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 53 (38/15), 72% (71.698% raw)
Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-10-05 14:18:07
Snapshot Tomatometer: 72%
Snapshot review count: 53
Snapshot fresh count: 38
Snapshot rotten count: 15
Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #4359 (full_snapshot)
| Company | Role |
|---|---|
| Paramount Pictures | distributor |
| Billing | Name | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Murray | Francis Xavier Cross |
| 2 | Karen Allen | Claire Phillips |
| 3 | John Forsythe | Lew Hayward |
| 4 | John Glover | Bryce Cummings |
| 5 | Bobcat Goldthwait | Eliot Loudermilk |
| Batch ID | Status | Mode | Created | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1474 | processed | — | 2026-10-05 20:50:23 | Processed successfully into movie_id=1456 using update_mode=merge_non_empty. |
| Batch ID | Local Snapshot | UTC Snapshot | Entered % | Entered Count | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4359 | 2026-10-05 09:18:00 (America/Panama) | 2026-10-05 14:18:07 | 72% | 53 | processed | Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 53 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=53, fresh=38, rotten=15, tomatometer=72%. Net new reviews added=53, fresh=38, rotten=15. Current canonical totals=53 reviews, 38 fresh, 15 rotten, tomatometer=72% (71.698%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (53). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (72%). |
| ID | Critic | Outlet | Fresh? | Score | RT Time Raw | Approx Published UTC | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 286337 | Eddie Harrison | film-authority.com | Fresh | 3/5 | 2026-04-04T14:42:25.000Z | 2026-04-04 14:42:25 | ‘…Scrooged isn’t hard-edged enough for adults, and yet seems too worldly for kids…’ |
| 286338 | Rachel Wagner | Hallmarkies Podcast | Fresh | — | 2024-12-07T22:01:55.000Z | 2024-12-07 22:01:55 | If you're feeling a need for something more cynical this holiday season it's a great choice |
| 286339 | Kristy Strouse | Film Inquiry | Fresh | — | 2024-01-12T14:14:00.000Z | 2024-01-12 14:14:00 | Despite Murray's impeccable portrayal of sneering meanness, the film masterfully strikes a careful balance between heartfelt moments and hilarity. |
| 286340 | Matt Brunson | Film Frenzy | Fresh | 3/4 | 2023-11-12T03:13:14.000Z | 2023-11-12 03:13:14 | It’s the sort of picture where it’s easy to understand the POV of both its fans and its detractors, and I myself have over the decades gone from believing it was slightly underrated to now believing it to be slightly overrated. |
| 286341 | Douglas Davidson | Elements of Madness | Fresh | — | 2023-11-05T13:25:45.000Z | 2023-11-05 13:25:45 | Even if one doesn’t have enough interest in the 4K UHD aspect to snag this new edition, the film itself holds up so well in any format as to make the time spent with Frank always feel worth it. |
| 286342 | Ryan Murphy | Miami Herald | Rotten | 2/4 | 2021-08-17T17:11:38.000Z | 2021-08-17 17:11:38 | Despite a lengthy wind-up that promises to deliver at least a minor tug at the heart, Scrooged is as sterile as some of the film's sexist gross-out jokes. |
| 286343 | Sezín Koehler | Black Girl Nerds | Fresh | 5/5 | 2020-05-23T23:10:15.000Z | 2020-05-23 23:10:15 | Scrooged is one of the few times in the history of cinema we see faeries as the complicated, cruel, monstrous, (and sometimes funny) creatures they are - David Bowie's The Labyrinth being another rare example. |
| 286344 | Sheila Benson | Los Angeles Times | Rotten | — | 2019-11-19T20:32:36.000Z | 2019-11-19 20:32:36 | It's not a bad notion for a satiric comedy and this one begins well, but then veers entirely out of hand until it's as over-inflated as its own Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and as funny as a mugging. |
| 286345 | Gene Siskel | Chicago Tribune | Fresh | 3/4 | 2019-11-19T20:32:35.000Z | 2019-11-19 20:32:35 | On balance... Bill Murray's lazy humor carries the movie up until his genuinely sweet relationship with an old girlfriend. |
| 286346 | John Ferguson | Radio Times | Fresh | 3/5 | 2019-11-19T20:32:34.000Z | 2019-11-19 20:32:34 | It's a missed opportunity, but some gags still hit the mark and there's a stream of starry cameos... |
| 286347 | Rob Harvilla | The Ringer | Fresh | — | 2018-11-27T00:47:33.000Z | 2018-11-27 00:47:33 | Scrooged is, indeed, phenomenally loud, and also very mean, and somehow also ultimately heartening, in a loopy yuletide sort of way. |
| 286348 | Sean Nelson | The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | Fresh | — | 2017-12-15T17:45:49.000Z | 2017-12-15 17:45:49 | Still, Murray is magnificent in the film, the effects are better than you'd expect, and the 1988 version of Hollywood excess is almost quaint by comparison with the CGI purgatory we live in today. |
| 286349 | Cathy Burke | United Press International | Fresh | — | 2017-12-09T00:14:06.000Z | 2017-12-09 00:14:06 | It would be hard to improve upon the classic, after all, and Scrooged not only sticks to the Dickens plot, but makes it believable as a modern fable. But the more difficult part of Scrooged is its modernization, the colorization of Dickens, if you will. |
| 286350 | Rob Gonsalves | Rob's Movie Vault | Fresh | A | 2015-12-29T10:39:37.000Z | 2015-12-29 10:39:37 | Murray, it's clear today, was the perfect Scrooge of the '80s. |
| 286351 | Duane Byrge | The Hollywood Reporter | Fresh | — | 2015-04-07T15:18:31.000Z | 2015-04-07 15:18:31 | Despite the juicy, on-the-edge craziness, Murray is able to layer his outrageous histrionics with an inner sensibility, making his ultimate transformation not only believable but Christmas-cheer uplifting. |
| 286352 | William Thomas | Empire Magazine | Fresh | 3/5 | 2011-11-09T05:15:53.000Z | 2011-11-09 05:15:53 | Murray doing what he does best, if you like that sort of thing. |
| 286353 | John J. Puccio | Movie Metropolis | Fresh | 7/10 | 2011-11-04T10:15:27.000Z | 2011-11-04 10:15:27 | It's got Bill Murray, and that's always a good thing. |
| 286354 | Tim Brayton | Antagony & Ecstasy | Fresh | 7/10 | 2009-12-13T23:43:57.000Z | 2009-12-13 23:43:57 | A meaningful Christmas Carol this is not, but a perfectly entertaining yuletide comedy this certainly is. |
| 286355 | Jeffrey M. Anderson | Combustible Celluloid | Fresh | — | 2009-08-20T16:10:40.000Z | 2009-08-20 16:10:40 | Bill Murray is the one of the greatest screen Scrooges in this 1980s updating. |
| 286356 | Jonathan Rosenbaum | Chicago Reader | Rotten | 1/4 | 2007-11-27T18:18:30.000Z | 2007-11-27 18:18:30 | Tacky in the extreme, this self-congratulatory 1988 film is an exercise in hypocrisy, indulging every form of Christmas exploitation that it pretends to attack, and many of the laughs are forced. |
| 286357 | Unknown Critic | TV Guide | Rotten | 1.5/4 | 2007-11-27T18:17:53.000Z | 2007-11-27 18:17:53 | A number of talented actors appear, but only a few are able to make much of a mark given their limited screentime. |
| 286358 | Variety Staff | Variety | Rotten | — | 2007-11-27T18:16:38.000Z | 2007-11-27 18:16:38 | An appallingly unfunny comedy, and a vivid illustration of the fact that money can't buy you laughs. |
| 286359 | Steve Crum | Dispatch-Tribune Newspapers | Fresh | 4/5 | 2006-08-12T12:46:11.000Z | 2006-08-12 12:46:11 | Frequently funny take on Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" with Murray learning a lesson. |
| 286360 | Unknown Critic | Time Out | Rotten | — | 2006-06-24T03:31:56.000Z | 2006-06-24 03:31:56 | Rowdy stuff for the light in head. |
| 286361 | Jake Euker | F5 (Wichita, KS) | Fresh | 3/5 | 2006-03-09T20:20:41.000Z | 2006-03-09 20:20:41 | — |
| 286362 | Chuck O'Leary | FulvueDrive-in.com | Fresh | 7/10 | 2006-02-20T14:53:51.000Z | 2006-02-20 14:53:51 | I found much of this irreverent modernization of A Christmas Carol to be hilarious, and I commend Murray and director Donner for giving their film a sardonic edge. |
| 286363 | Christopher Null | Filmcritic.com | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2006-01-03T03:15:34.000Z | 2006-01-03 03:15:34 | A roaring good time. |
| 286364 | Cole Smithey | ColeSmithey.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2005-11-06T17:38:17.000Z | 2005-11-06 17:38:17 | — |
| 286365 | Andy Klein | Los Angeles CityBeat | Rotten | 1/5 | 2005-05-12T10:29:52.000Z | 2005-05-12 10:29:52 | — |
| 286366 | Daniel M. Kimmel | Worcester Telegram & Gazette | Rotten | 1/5 | 2005-02-08T07:05:40.000Z | 2005-02-08 07:05:40 | — |
| 286367 | Robin Clifford | Reeling Reviews | Fresh | 3/5 | 2004-11-19T08:18:05.000Z | 2004-11-19 08:18:05 | — |
| 286368 | Gregory Weinkauf | New Times | Fresh | 4/5 | 2004-10-20T14:32:50.000Z | 2004-10-20 14:32:50 | I saw this during a brief visit to Germany and it really helped things suck less. Possibly even funnier dubbed in incomprehensible German. |
| 286369 | Widgett Walls | Needcoffee.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2004-06-04T15:45:32.000Z | 2004-06-04 15:45:32 | Necessary viewing during the holidays. |
| 286370 | Rob Thomas | Capital Times (Madison, WI) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2004-05-21T08:29:36.000Z | 2004-05-21 08:29:36 | The smart-aleck comedy keeps the holiday cheer from getting too sugary. |
| 286371 | Dan Lybarger | Nitrate Online | Rotten | 2/5 | 2004-04-30T21:24:17.000Z | 2004-04-30 21:24:17 | Forgetable holiday offering with Murray at his least inspired. |
| 286372 | Ryan Cracknell | Movie Views | Fresh | — | 2003-12-07T22:02:28.000Z | 2003-12-07 22:02:28 | Proves that remakes and new visions of old material need not be redundant. |
| 286373 | Nell Minow | Movie Mom | Fresh | 4/5 | 2003-07-29T13:48:18.000Z | 2003-07-29 13:48:18 | — |
| 286374 | Vincent Canby | New York Times | Rotten | 2.5/5 | 2003-05-20T17:13:05.000Z | 2003-05-20 17:13:05 | In spite of the jokes at the expense of television-network censors, there's very little in the film, aside from naughty words, that wouldn't be perfectly acceptable on prime-time television. |
| 286375 | Ken Hanke | Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | Fresh | 3/5 | 2003-04-21T22:29:18.000Z | 2003-04-21 22:29:18 | So-so variant on A Christmas Carol as a Bill Murray vehicle, |
| 286376 | Brian Mckay | eFilmCritic.com | Rotten | 2/5 | 2003-03-18T19:34:13.000Z | 2003-03-18 19:34:13 | Made in the crappy Murray years between CADDYSHACK and RUSHMORE. A few laughs, but mostly forgettable. |
| 286377 | Alex Sandell | Juicy Cerebellum | Rotten | 2/5 | 2003-02-12T14:43:16.000Z | 2003-02-12 14:43:16 | Good idea that never fully plays itself out. |
| 286378 | Jeffrey Westhoff | Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2003-02-06T13:22:28.000Z | 2003-02-06 13:22:28 | — |
| 286379 | Shannon J. Harvey | Sunday Times (Australia) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2003-02-04T00:38:13.000Z | 2003-02-04 00:38:13 | Bill Murray as Scrooge? Now that's perfect casting! |
| 286380 | Philip Martin | Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | Fresh | 3/5 | 2003-01-24T10:20:16.000Z | 2003-01-24 10:20:16 | — |
| 286381 | James Rocchi | Netflix | Fresh | 4/5 | 2002-11-07T13:22:28.000Z | 2002-11-07 13:22:28 | By the time it draws to a close, the movie and Cross demonstrate their faith and belief in goodness -- and do it hilariously and affectingly. |
| 286382 | Brian J. Arthurs | Beach Reporter (Southern California) | Fresh | 4/5 | 2002-10-04T15:10:21.000Z | 2002-10-04 15:10:21 | — |
| 286383 | Caffeinated Clint | Moviehole | Fresh | 3/5 | 2002-09-17T21:05:00.000Z | 2002-09-17 21:05:00 | Middling take on the classic stories |
| 286384 | Scott Weinberg | eFilmCritic.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2002-07-27T01:14:27.000Z | 2002-07-27 01:14:27 | — |
| 286385 | Ben Falk | BBC.com | Fresh | 4/5 | 2001-04-17T23:34:17.000Z | 2001-04-17 23:34:17 | Whenever Bill Murray is in a film, there's always one simple rule. Give him a decent set-up and you've got yourself a classic. |
| 286389 | MaryAnn Johanson | Flick Filosopher | Fresh | 9/10 | 2000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | Dickens would approve. |
| 286388 | Roger Ebert | Chicago Sun-Times | Rotten | 1/4 | 2000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | It was obviously intended as a comedy, but there is little comic about it, and indeed the movie's overriding emotions seem to be pain and anger. |
| 286387 | Hal Hinson | Washington Post | Rotten | — | 2000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | If Donner and his team had any interest in the story's message, they've picked a puzzling way to show it. |
| 286386 | Joe Brown | Washington Post | Fresh | — | 2000-01-01T00:00:00.000Z | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | This is not a 'good movie' -- in fact, it's a sprawling mess -- but I like it. |
Showing the latest 100 canonical reviews for this movie.