It's Christmas, Carol!

I was hoping this would be so much better, but it was bad right from the start. The music volume was way too loud in relation to the rest of the audio and didn't get corrected until well into the film. But that was the least of the problems. The acting was out and out terrible and there was not a likable character in the whole film. Ben the writer/exboyfriend would lose an acting competition with a piece of lumbar and Fred, the over the top drama queen I just wanted to slap silly. The writing was poor and how does a publisher not know The Christmas Carol? How was this a comedy? It was like watching bad community theatre.

Another re-hash of Dickens' classic the has some interesting points but, as Don Adams used to say in the old "Get Smart" TV series, "Missed it by that much". I am a "Carol" lover and I own more than 20 versions so I can comment on this with a clear conscience. The idea of having Eve, Carol's old (and dead) boss take the place of Marley is understandable. The idea of her also taking the place of the three ghosts is less so. As in all the re-tellings of the story the protagonist, Carol, is Scrooge-like and pretty well hated by all the people who work for her. Again she sees the past, present and future but, unlike other tellings she doesn't gradually realize how nasty she is until the last moment and then she suddenly switches and is a nice person. This alone makes her transformation less than believable. Not a really bad movie, but it lacks the heart of several of the other versions. For the best see the Alastair Sim version with the George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart versions running a close second.

I liked this modern telling of A Christmas Carol. Yes I Recommend it. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas. 11/14/2020

Greetings, salutations, and a seasonal welcome to all you movie aficionados. Here are my considerations and recommendation for It's Christmas, Carol!

Story: 1.25/2 - Direction and Pace: 2.50/4 - Performances: 1.25/2 - Enjoyment: 1.50/2

Total 6.50/10

I enjoyed this reworking of Chuck's classic morality tale, "A Christmas Carol". The best element in the movie is Eve - The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future - which Carrie Fisher joyfully portrays. The delight Eve feels as she toys with her prey, Carol (Emmanuelle Vaugier), as she imparts her wisdom upon her is tangible and infectious. Vaugier does well as the straight woman who takes all the pratfalls and fights against Eve's life lessons. Of course, filmmakers have done this style of story to death. There are over twenty-five "Christmas Carol" listed on IMDb alone. Let alone all the movies with a wordplay on the title, like this one. So what do you do when you want to breathe freshness into a stale story? You pep up the narrative with interesting characters, situations, and twists. The writers give the audience a decent set of individuals and circumstances to keep them amused and entertained. I especially liked the "Revolting" Fred, played charmingly by Carson Kressley. It would've been nice to have more meat on his cohorts in La Revolution, as they come across a tad flat next to Kressley. And one of my favourite scenes is when Carol, after realising her wrongs, attempts to rehire a fired employee. The employee's daughter answers the door. After exchanging pleasantries, the young girl asks if Carol's the one who fired her mother. Awkwardly, Carol confesses, and the girl slams the door in her face. It's a simple scene, dipped in realism, that makes the viewer giggle, "Yeah, Go Girl!" as the door bangs firmly into its frame.

The movie isn't the most charming or heart-warming of its type, but it possesses its own enjoyable allure. It could be down to the solid cinematography and decent pacing of the picture, the performers' portrayals of their characters, or the story itself. But whatever it is, I always find myself drawn towards the movie whenever I see it playing. Moreover, I always enjoy it: And this's the fifth time I've viewed the picture. As such, I can only recommend that you give it a look-see. It's not too terrible a way to spend an evening while waiting for Santa's nightly visit.

Please check out my HO! HO! HO! Christmas Belles list to see where I ranked the movie.

Take Care, Stay Well, And Best Wishes For A Merry Christmas.

Modernizing and slightly rewriting the Charles Dickens classic Christmas Carol is an oft used formula, and this Hallmark offering is one of the more awkward in attempting it.

First, the idea of merging all four ghosts (Marley, Past, Present, and Future) into one character doesn't seem to work as well as the movie makers hoped. This latter day Scrooge is a toxic publishing exec named Carol (get it?), who is visited by her deceased predecessor, who also has a Christmas reference name: Eve (Carrie Fisher). Fisher plays it well, but an immediate problem develops as we see little if any change in Carol's demeanor. Faced with only ghost visitor throughout the story, someone she knew personally, their banter becomes a stalemate where Carol persistently demands to go home to bed; Eve talks down to her with sarcastic tolerance like she would talk to a child. Scrooge had different reactions as the various ghosts got through to him--each in their own way, and this story misses that.

The life story of Carol really has none of the human interest of her 1840's counterpart, either. She just stepped on people's faces her whole life, and doesn't seem to be touched emotionally when confronted with this. It's difficult to identify with someone this deep into denial and lacking in empathy, and the character does not change in a logical or believable manner.

The acting of the cast in general rises above the script, although some of them are stuck with tiresome and annoying stereotypes.

There are many versions of the Scrooge story out there. Among the best are George C. Scott's and Alistair Sim's. Catch one of those if you can this Christmas season. Carol is OK only if you have nothing else to do.