After weeks of anticipation, Netflix finally uploaded the Holiday special. As soon as I got up today I grabbed myself a bowl of cereal, curled up in my chair and fired up my Netflix.
The first thing to note about this special is its incredibly false advertising shots of bright cheery Christmas scenery and happy faces. 95% of this holiday special takes place inside a dark dreary snowed in New York hotel as we follow around Bill being depressed about the lack of guests for his holiday special. The lack of humor and good times really hurts the already downer theme.
Things finally start to pick up a little when Chris Rock shows up (randomly) and Bill more or less forces him to sing "Do you hear what I hear" as part of his televised show. Unfortunately that doesn't last and Chris has the smart idea to literally run out the door during a black out.
We are then treated to Bill and the waitress (Jenny Lewis) doing a duet of "baby its cold outside" which was one of my favorite parts since Bill and Jenny legitimately seem to be enjoying themselves and there's a little romantic chemistry hinted at.
Then the special comes to a complete haul and we get song after song after song after song...all performed in a very drunken lounge singer style.
This goes on seemingly forever till Bill passes out (yes really) and we are transported to the best part of this holiday special...in his mind.
You know all those happy cheery looking promo shots of bright white backgrounds, Christmas lights ad decorations everywhere while Bill, George Clooney and Miley Cyrus sing and dance? It's a short lived dream sequence. Talk about a let down.
Say what you will about Miley...that girl can sing and it shows here. Also we get treated to a Christmas rap type duet of Bill Murray and George Clooney (yes George sings...sort of) and then back to all 3 of them for one last big number before we're taken from the dream and tossed back to depressing dark New York hotel on Christmas day now.
We get a half hearted "Merry Christmas everyone" from Bill as he stares out the window and the credits roll.
I had real hope for this special because the trailers made it look like a classy fun old fashioned Christmas special. What we got was Sofia Copella showing her inability to let a Christmas special be anything but a depressing mess. The message I was left with from this holiday special was "the real world is a dimly lit depressing place...but your dreams can be fun"
Way to embrace the Christmas spirit Sofia. Stick to "Oscar contender" pictures and leave Holiday specials to those of us that actually get what it means to have a good time.
4/10
Only worth watching if you want to see the dream sequence and Clooney sing.
I'll stick to Scrooged for my Bill Murray Christmases thanks
Guest Author
Matthew Hollands
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