‘Spirited’ review: Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds waste a jolly good ‘Christmas Carol’ premise
“Spirited” doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance of living up to other spins on the yuletide classic.
Director Sean Anders’ reimagining of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” (★★½ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Friday, streaming on Apple TV+ Nov. 18) spotlights the point of view of the helpful apparitions that guided old Ebenezer to turn his life around back in the day. All the contemporary wrapping, a dizzying array of tones (from screwball humor to cornball earnestness) and endless songs by “The Greatest Showman” duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul winds up being like tinsel distracting from what works best: Will Ferrell as a determined phantom and Ryan Reynolds as his snarky Scrooge.
The Ghost of Christmas Present (Ferrell) is 40 seasons past “retirement” age in turning around dark souls on Christmas Eve, a year-long job for him and his co-workers Past (Sunita Mani) and Yet-to-Come (voiced by Tracy Morgan). Present desperately wants to tackle the case of Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a PR man infamous for crafting conflict, controversy and disinformation for his clients worldwide.
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Big boss Jacob Marley (Patrick Page) labels Clint “unredeemable” but Present puts his employment on the line for this one: If he can fix this “perfect combination of Mussolini and Seacrest,” the ripple effects could be huge.
While the spirits do their due diligence, their haunting of Clint goes awry almost from the very start. Complicating matters is Present’s crush on Clint’s good-hearted right-hand woman Kimberly (Octavia Spencer) – leading to her being able to see the goofy ghost – and Clint developing a curiosity about Present’s life and duty while reluctantly facing his own heart-wrenching past and unsure future.
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“Spirited” is one musical that’d be better with less songs, actually – more often than not, they slow down the narrative momentum (and annoy Marley to no end). The tunes themselves are a mixed bag; only a few are hummable holiday jams, which is unusual for the frequently great Pasek/Paul combo. And the song-and-dance showstoppers just pile on the onslaught of sincerity, so much so you’ll likely just give in to the relentless merriment. (Unless you’ve got steel will or are, you know, a total Scrooge.)
Yet “Spirited” dazzles most when going the extra mile for some humbug, usually via Reynolds’ modern miser. Present and Clint bicker and constantly needle each other, though that unlikely friendship sings harder than any of the Christmas-y tracks.
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The Dickens tale is one that can be adapted for whatever era we happen to be in, and “Spirited” sets it at a cynical time where plot points like a sixth-grader’s TikToks being used as oppo research and the division between fans of fake and real Christmas trees causing a social-media war don’t seem that out of bounds. It also thoughtfully questions what makes for a Scrooge in the 21st century and is anybody really unredeemable.
For those looking for something seasonally better than a Hallmark holiday romance, this’ll do the trick. When it comes to being a new classic like “Elf,” though, this fitfully rousing A-list team-up just doesn’t have the right Christmas spirit.
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