A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

After the wonderful Peter Pan Goes Wrong, I was excited to see their take on a Christmas Carol. It isn't terrible, but it's not especially good either.

The premise appears to be that after being banned from the BBC, an acting troupe takes over a BBC production of A Christmas Carol.

I say this appears to be the premise because I only know that from reading it elsewhere. While watching I just saw them burst in and take over and I didn't see or hear any actual explanation of what was happening.

The humor retains much of the silliness of Peter Pan Goes Wrong and honestly, some very similar gags. But it is considerably less inspired. The only laugh out loud bits involve an actor who cannot read his lines and so has them written all over the set (including individual words on a bunch of grapes). It's very funny and clever, but 90% of the funniness and cleverness seems to have been expended on that 10-15 minutes worth of material.

While there are some good gags, nothing builds on anything else, so you get a moment of amusement and then it dies off, instead of each gag building on the next. I mean, there are a few callbacks, some pretty good, but overall the show just ... fails to launch.

Watchable but easy to ignore.

The Mischief Theatre, also known as 'The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society' is a group of comedians who have made a variety of BBC specials as well as a regular series. I have not seen any of these shows other than "A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong' because I live in the States and only just discovered their work. I hope their other productions are as good as this one.

The premise is that a group of mostly untalented people want to hijack a BBC broadcast of "A Christmas Carol" starring Derek Jacobi. After taking Jacobi out of the picture and holding the crew captive, the group put on their own version...which is mostly a giant disaster. A few of the problems are problematic green screens, a Bob Cratchit who knows none of his lines, an actor who wants to play the lead and keeps attacking the new Scrooge, a niece who gets glued to practically everything and much more. It's all very stupid...but fun.

If this had been a longer film, it probably would have become tedious. As is, the 51 minute version is quite enjoyable thanks to the dopiness of the show...and this IS meant as a compliment! Well worth seeing, and I found a copy on YouTube.

As much as I liked their take on Peter Pan I think is where they seemed to run out of ideas.

I want to like it: the pieces all seem to be there but it lacks that X factor Peter Pan had. Some of it is funny and some of it just feels rehashed and contrived.

They go way too far with a lot of gags and put too much emphasis on the actors personal lives.

I'm not saying avoid it but go in knowing that the best of this franchise is behind it.

The Christmas classic with Derek Jacobi as Scrooge! Who wouldn't be thrilled at the idea? A player of such ability that he can disappear into any role! Well, not the Mischief Theater (masquerading as the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society) banned from the BBC since they ruined PETER PAN the previous year. So they knock out Jacobi, have Diana Rigg, the aunt of one of their performers, do the narration and hey, presto! It's a disaster.

And a very funny one, with performers who don't know their lines, performers covered in glue and stuck to their props, performers caught offsides when the green-screen software goes down.... a wondrous, silly, slapstick affair that kept me laughing throughout, as their inept production gets merged with their 'real' lives. If you've got an hour to spare and not enough laughs, this is a good way to fix that shortage.

This is the first "Gone Wrong" episode I have ever seen and laughed from start to finish. "A Christmas Carol" is being staged by a group of totally inept actors and stage hands. Actors must go on with the show even when props fail, characters don't show up, stage hands are visible, people fall out windows or through floors, etc.

Derek Jacobi does an excellent job as Scrooge keeping it all together or all not together. Henry Lewis plays a 200-pound Tiny Tim after he accidently crushes the smaller actor who was Tiny Tim with a stage prop. There also was a modern party scene that I totally did not understand, but maybe I needed to watch the other "Gone Wrong" episodes first.