If Ebenezer is remembered for one thing, it’ll be for having one of the worst marketing campaigns I’ve seen in recent memory. It’d be one thing if it were due to the litany of horrendous taglines (“Ever been ghosted three times in one night?” might be the cringiest thing I’ve ever heard), but even worse is that, for all the studio hubbub of it being a classic story “told in a way we’ve never seen it before”, Ebenezer is exactly like what we’ve seen before.
As you can tell, Ebenezer is yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens’ iconic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. If you’ve somehow been living under a rock, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Johnny Depp), a cynical and greedy miser who is outwardly cruel to everyone from his employee Bob Cratchit (Rupert Grint) to his nephew Fred (Sam Claflin). He especially hates anything having to do with kindness or charity, least of which is Christmas in general.
On the night of Christmas Eve, he’s suddenly accosted by the chained spirit of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen), who warns him he will be visited by three ghosts throughout the night. The purpose of their visit is clear: Scrooge needs to change his egotistical ways, or else he’ll meet the same fate as Marley.
“If Ebenezer is remembered for one thing, it’ll be for having one of the worst marketing campaigns I’ve seen in recent memory.”
To director Ti West’s credit, the film’s strongest moments come when it leans more into the horror aspect of the story. There are some jump scares that I found surprisingly intense for a kid-friendly Christmas flick. There’s great Gothic production design on display, and the designs for each of the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Future–played by Andrea Riseborough, Tramell Tillman and Robert Strange, respectively– are stunning to look at. Past’s banshee-esque look is genuinely frightening, and I really liked this version of ghosts draining Present’s spirit via living in his ribcage.
Additionally, there is one substantial addition to the story that I liked, in the film’s opening: a new prologue taking place seven years before the events of the novella, showing Scrooge’s kinship with the equally selfish Marley, moments before the latter’s death. It’s a nice way of giving Marley a slightly more substantial relationship to Scrooge beyond him just suddenly appearing in his house. Unfortunately, that’s about all the nice things I have to say.
The rest of Ebenezer is shockingly dull for the near-entirety of it. West and writer Nathaniel Halpern stay very faithful to Dickens’ text, to the point where, like the novella, it’s divided into five chapters called staves. However, West’s direction outside of the aforementioned horror sequences feels lifeless, and the moments where the film tries to expand upon Dickens’ text are superfluous at best.
“The rest of Ebenezer is shockingly dull for the near-entirety of it.”
We get the equivalent of on-screen CliffsNotes that Ebenezer frequently hated his abusive father, cared deeply for his sister Fan (Imogen Turner), who died young, and had a passionate relationship with a woman, Belle (Ellie Bamber), whose breakup truly cemented his cold-hearted outlook. Alfie Buck and Arthur Conti do their best in those moments as younger versions of Ebenezer, but they’re given little to work with as none of these relationships are expanded in any significant way. The few comedic beats also fall flat. In fact, the one time I DID laugh was during a scene I definitely was not supposed to.
What makes Ebenezer especially irritating is that it was so clearly made as a transparent attempt to get Johnny Depp back in the public eye in his first major Hollywood film since his highly controversial 2022 court case surrounding his abusive relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard. Depp spends most of the movie mugging and sneering cartoonishly at the camera, which, while to be expected when playing Scrooge, often feels like he’s trying really hard to “play the hits” again. The suspense of the hauntings is immediately and often undercut by Depp screaming and flailing around like he’s Jack Sparrow again. Even the third-act change of heart comes off as being extremely hollow as a result.
There are so many different adaptations of A Christmas Carol that it makes it all the more annoying that Ebenezer is so lifeless. You’re better off saying “humbug” to this and watching one of the hundreds of much, much better Christmas Carol adaptations instead. Or just stick with the best one: The Muppets Christmas Carol.
Story via the original publisher. Read the original article
