Ferrell & Reynolds Are SPIRITED

 If you're in the mood for a new Christmastime musical that features a singing and tap dancing Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, I've got just the movie for you. (Yes. They tap dance.) Go to Apple + TV and stream SPIRITED, a modern day musical comedy derived from Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL This handsome, brisk and truly funny original musical runs 2 hours and 7 minutes. At times, it feels like an overstuffed Christmas stocking -- but that's better than a heavy holiday meal that makes you feel sluggish afterwards. SPIRITED is like a recent Broadway musical, popular with tourists, that was cleverly expanded in its stage to film adaptation so that it doesn't feel stagey. 

Will Ferrell plays the Ghost of Christmas Present. He's nearing retirement age within the Afterlife work community. In this story, directed and co-written by Sean Anders, the Ghost of Christmas Present gets to see how the humans he haunted have changed for the better. Every Christmas Eve, he gets to choose a new mortal who needs to be redeemed. But Christmas Present is afraid of retiring and he's reluctant to accept the opportunity to be a mortal for a spell to see how it feels centuries after his death. This year, instead of choosing a jerk of a hotel manager, he becomes fascinated with the handsome and young marketing strategist who speaks at a convention of the National Association of Christmas Tree Growers. Clint Briggs  (Ryan Reynolds) is slick, self-absorbed and successful. He's determined to start of culture war pitting those who love real trees versus those who purchase fake trees. Christmas Present is dazzled by Clint and his shallow charisma. He sees him as a combination of Mussolini and Ryan Seacrest. He had no idea that his Afterlife boss will be against this idea because Clint is listed in an Afterlife book marked "Unredeemable." Still, Christmas Present goes after Clint. He's joined by Christmas Past, deliciously played by the hilarious Sunita Mani, and Tracy Morgan as Christmas Future. With lots of songs, lots of well-choreographed dance numbers and lots of time travel, they delve in Clint's backstory to uncover his broken heart. Clint and Christmas Present become, in a way, unlikely buddies. Clint's assistant is the only mortal who can see Christmas Present. She's played by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer. It's a good role and she gets a good song to sing. Spencer is lovable in the part. During all the time travel, Christmas Present will fall in love and we'll discover that he inspired Dickens to write A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are not singers in a league with Josh Groban and Hugh Jackman. But they commit to and sell the songs. The same goes for their commendable tap dancing. Octavia Spencer has a song called "The View From Here" about the substantial ordinary things in life one bypasses or ignore in order to climb a corporate ladder. She has sweetly romantic reprise of it later in the story. It's a song that could be pulled out and added to cabaret acts. It's a good song. During one of the time travel segments, Clint and Christmas Present go back in time to jolly olde England. They had a big rude and totally delightful production number called "Good Afternoon" that reminds one of the "Consider Yourself" number from the movie OLIVER! Only this number is full of bad manners. The phrase "Good afternoon" is the British equivalent to a Southerner taking on an insincere smile and saying "Bless your heart" to someone annoying.  The number made me laugh out loud. So did a scene of Clint's life at a shopping mall back in the 1980s.

Is this a great holiday musical? Is it as smooth as SCROOGE, the original big screen musical that starred Albert Finney? Well, no. As I wrote earlier, it does feel overstuffed and too eager to please, But, overall, it's fun and all the actors fit their roles very well. If SPIRITED aired during the holiday season on one of the senior networks, I'd watch. A few naughty words would have to be removed. Reynold's first song has the lyric"...with all the trolls and a-holes out there" for instance. But I would prefer SPIRITED over 2 hours of THE BACHELOR in a heartbeat.

One more thing: SPIRITED made me think that we could also use a modern-day twist on A CHRISTMAS CAROL with Elon Musk as Scrooge.