Director: Sofia Coppola
Cast: Bill Murray, George Clooney, Rashida Jones, Amy Poehler, Miley Cyrus, Michael Cera, Jason Schwartzman, Maya Rudolph, Chris Rock, Jenny Lewis, Julie White, David Johansen, Paul Shaffer
Running time: 56 mins
Rating: 12
Release date: December 4th, 2015
Availability: VoD – Netflix
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS is one of the signals that we are deep into that time of the year again. The time you embrace with scraggily Christmas themed knitted sweaters or loathe and smash your head against the wall screaming “BAH HUMBUG!“
The LOST IN TRANSLATION duo Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray have decided to team up once again to give us a very indie Christmas. The special also decided to bring in an ensemble of talent including (ACE VENTURA-styled deep breath in) Amy Poehler, Michael Cera, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, Rashida Jones, Jenny Lewis, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman and David Letterman’s former side kick Paul Schaffer.
A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS plays out like a TV special infused with an artsy styled, awkward dialogue ridden indie. The ‘plot’ sees Murray (playing himself) fretting over a live Christmas performance he doesn’t really want to do. It is a cold Christmas Eve and the city of New York has been ground to a halt by a power cut. Murray is saved from continuing his live Christmas special at the Carlyle Hotel and is free to schmooze around. The loose ‘plot’ setup is really only there to give us an excuse to watch Murray sing songs with a few of his celeb buddies…and Miley Cyrus.
What follows is a series of exchanges somewhere along the lines of exactly what you would have imagined when you heard Murray goes around New York crashing people’s parties and imparting sage advice to random citizens.
That is it really, Murray and co. singing Christmas songs, sometimes passably, purposefully off key or very melodiously. If a bit of Murray charm and him singing off key Christmas songs sounds like your kind of thing, this is definitely for you.
It is the kind of hour long special I can see people leaving on in the background during the festive season. If you have a soft spot for Christmas festivities then this is a light-hearted, gentle watch for the whole family.
There is nothing particularly breathtaking about A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS, but it is a nice little innocent slice of Christmas.
Verdict
