Sorry, this movie sucks

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a well done version of The Christmas Carol. Giving a more modern taste to the setting and characters. I like that Scrooge has become a black woman, showing that not every tightfisted miser must be the typical old white guy. Ms.Tyson is excellent as a 20th century Scrooge. Michael Beach is also very good as her nephew and Reverend of the neighborhood. Katherine Helmond as Marley is over the top fun, I would have like to have seen more of her as a ghost. One complaint is that the director didn't pull more emotions from some of the actors. With a few exceptions, much of the time people were in the middle of the road emotionally. Afraid to be too joyous or too desperately downtrodden. But overall a nice holiday movie to add to the season.

Honestly, I can't believe this movie received money from backers to even be made.The acting was abysmal. The editing was atrocious! The directing was lacking. The story was ridiculous. The fact that they modernized this story wasn't an issue, others have done that very successfully. But why did they feel the need to turn Scrooge into a black woman? What purpose did that serve. I don't have an issue with that, but they didn't pull it off well at all. It was a poorly made statement that served no purpose to the story.What a complete laugh. Absolutely horrible, not that I expected anything of higher quality from the Hallmark channel.Don't waste your time.

The premise of an African-American female Scrooge in the modern, struggling city was inspired, but nothing else in this film is. Here, Ms. Scrooge is a miserly banker who takes advantage of the employees and customers in the largely poor and black neighborhood it inhabits. There is no doubt about the good intentions of the people involved. Part of the problem is that story's roots don't translate well into the urban setting of this film, and the script fails to make the update work. Also, the constant message about sharing and giving is repeated so endlessly, the audience becomes tired of it well before the movie reaches its familiar end. This is a message film that doesn't know when to quit. In the title role, the talented Cicely Tyson gives an overly uptight performance, and at times lines are difficult to understand. The Charles Dickens novel has been adapted so many times, it's a struggle to adapt it in a way that makes it fresh and relevant, in spite of its very relevant message.

It amazes me how many ways a simple story like Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" can be interpreted. We have the pleasure of watching Cicely Tyson (Idlewild, A Lesson Before Dying) in another strong role.John Korty, who directed Ms. Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, again directs her as Ms. Ebenita Scrooge. Veteran writer John McGreevey interprets the familiar tale.Katherine Helmond ("Soap", "Whose the Boss") was funny as Marley, and Michael Beach ("Third Watch", Short Cuts) was super as her nephew.It was a different twist on a familiar story, told from an African-American perspective, and it really warmed the heart.Of course, you all know how it ends.