Spirited
Each Christmas Eve, the Ghost of Christmas Present selects one dark soul to be reformed by a visit from three spirits. But this season, he picked the wrong Scrooge. Clint Briggs turns the tables on his ghostly host until Present finds himself reexamining his own past, present and future.
- Released: 2022-11-11
- Runtime: 120 minutes
- Genre: Comedy
- Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, Sunita Mani, Aimee Carrero, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Maximilian Lee Piazza, Jen Tullock, Anne Reardon, Nico Tirozzi, Billy Concha, Peter Brownlee, Woody Fu, Brian Bradbury, Maddox Dalton, Daelan Dalton, Arasha Lalani
- Director: Sean Anders
Comments
- hoernkeem - 25 January 2024
Spirited (2022, Sean Anders) Interesting 'A Christmas Carol' adaptation, but ultimately not as funny as it should have been
Eric's Grade: C 'Spirited' is Christmas themed musical comedy directed and co-written by Sean Anders starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. It is an updated adaptation of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' with Will Ferrell in the Ghost of Christmas Present role and Ryan Reynolds in the Scrooge roll. All Anders does is write and direct comedies such as 'Daddy's Home', 'Horrible Bosses 2' and 'Sex Drive' so something like 'Spirited' is right up his alley although this is his first crack at a musical. 'Spirited' did have a brief theatrical release prior to dropping on the Apple TV+ streaming service in November of 2022.
Ferrell stars as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Those three iconic spirits as well as Jacob Marley head up an afterlife organization that attempts to redeem one soul a year Ebenezer Scrooge style. The "perp" as they call them gets a year of prep time and then when Christmas hits they go through the elaborate 'Christmas Carol' style presentation which essentially scares the perp and gives them the feels enough to become the good person they were always meant to be. Reynolds stars as Clint Briggs who is a morally reprehensible social media consultant who is not above any dirty trick to secure whatever is in the best interest of his clients. He will even throw a kid under the social media bus to secure his niece a victory she desires. Present (Ferrell) immediately identifies him as a challenging perp who has been labeled by his organization as irredeemable. Of course as the organization attempts to give him the standard presentation he balks in humorous style which provides all sorts of consternation for Present who already has a lot of personal questions about himself going into this job. As the two work through this process they both find out more about one another and both may break the mold of being irredeemable.
No clue what this movie was about walking into it so I was pleasantly surprised to see it take shape as comedic take on 'A Christmas Carol'. Bill Murray's 'Scrooged' is one of my favorite comedies of all time. As far as comedic actors go for the most part I enjoy Ferrell, but he can be hit or miss, but I love me some Ryan Reynolds. Ferrell's Present ghost is a bit more relaxed version of his typical comedy, and Reynolds is doing the dickish, snarky, intelligent comedy that he does best. Despite that I did not find this movie very funny. The writing just doesn't dig the comedy out of the source material quite right. I do like the premise, and it is interesting twist on the Dickens' tale, but the idea is just not captured to its full potential in the script. For being a holiday musical comedy 'Spirited' is just not that funny, with music that isn't that captivating, and although set during Christmas this doesn't give the viewer any of those holiday sensations. Despite looking slick with some good actors this movie stumbles with its presentation so it just winds up okay and rather basic. - e_daneva - 1 January 2024
'Good Afternoon!!'
Spirited is an amazing movie. Even though Elf is better, this is still a great movie with Will Ferell and Ryan Reynolds. The movie had great songs but the songs felt like they came out of nowhere. Also there was too many songs. This movie had about 15 songs. Even though this is a musical that is way too much. My favorite song though, was the one Ryan Reynolds was singing about Christmas trees. Also this movie is hilarious. It's super funny and it has two great comedic actors, Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferell. Still, after all that, this movie gets a 6.6? Good afternoon. Yes, good afternoon, one of my favorite lines in the movie. If you watch the full movie, and not just 5 minutes, you will know why. I would recommend this movie to you if you like Elf or if you like musicals, and or comedy, and and or holiday movies. In my mind, giving a modern twist to the classic Christmas story was a great idea. I also love the ending of the movie. It's just not what you would expect and it is very creative. In all, I give this a 8.4 out of 10.
