New holiday special on Netflix went up yesterday-- A Very Murray Christmas, starring Bill Murray, George Clooney, Miley Cyrus, David Johansen, Rashida Jones, Amy Poehler, Paul Shaffer (the ultimate accompanist!) and a dozen or so more guests. Sort of an old-school Christmas variety show.
I absolutely loved it, my wife was a bit more lukewarm, but she’s not much of a Bill Murray fan.
It was quirky, it was unique, it did have a few clunker moments (uh, Michael Cera, what?), but overall a very nice 56 minutes of holiday songs, deadpan Billy Murray and a glitzy dream sequence.
For me the highlights were:
-Bill and Chris Rock’s lobby interaction and their ‘Do You Hear What I Hear’ duet. (“You’re a rapper!” “I don’t rap! Do you know me?”)
-The gang’s boozy rendition of ‘Fairy Tale of New York’ at midnight.
-Clooney poking his head out from behind a Christmas tree singing ‘Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin.’ It was just so ridiculous!
I’m not sure but this may become a holiday tradition in the Lendervedder abode. Me getting boozed up with Bill Murray and friends, while my wife reads in the bedroom.
Yes, Madame P and I saw it. We’re both big fans of Bill, so we enjoyed it a lot, and the bits you mentioned were the top moments in the show. I also enjoyed his handlers/producers at the start of the show, and the whole “say anything so he’ll go on” bit.
We’re fans, and started to watch it, but couldn’t get past the first bit. Kind of dull, self indulgent, appeared fun and amusing to the ones who did it, but I guess we’re not big enough fans?
I’ve been saving it up on Netflix. I want my christmas stuff a bit nearer a random arbitrary date I’ve chosen (25th Dec, as it happens). Alas, I don’t know any of you, so your opinions haven’t influenced my schedule either way I kinda hope it’s going to be worthwhile - I can bear Bill Murray at his best, and George being amusing is usually…amusing. I don’t know some of the names, but Poehler’s good value and I like Miley C even more than Billy Ray. I’ll let you know how it went for me.
One of the best Christmas specials I’ve seen in ages. Come to think of it, I think this is the FIRST Christmas special I’ve seen in ages. This could become a holiday tradition of mine as well.
The Michael Cera part seemed unnecessary, but I quite enjoyed seeing him do something that wasn’t “Michael Cera”, if you understand me. The rest was a good old-fashioned Christmas special, somehow made palatable for modern times.
Wife and I watched it. She seemed to enjoy it more than I. I thought a lot of it appeared to have been phoned in. Especially Clooney. But she observed that it wasn’t any worse than x-mas specials of our youth - such as Bing and his fambly. So, I guess on that scale, it was okay.
The moment I saw that “do” on the bartender, I thought, is that some David Johannson wannabe? Man. The years have been tough on him. He’s no longer funky nor chic!
Definitely self indulgent, clique-ish let’s-put-on-a-show vibe. You imagine that they all hang out together in their off hours in a New York penthouse (Miley included).
It was as if the whole thing had the sensibility of a New Yorker cartoon.
I enjoyed it, though, because I dig all that self-referential crap (and I wish I could hang out with them too!).
This alone made the entire thing worth it. My wife and I were laughing throughout the show and our pre-teens were looking at us like we were insane.
We were trying to figure out if Murray was trying to recreate scenes from some of his movies- there was a line that seemed straight out of Ghostbusters and another straight from Groundhog Day.
The review I read (possibly from NPR?) loved it because, in the reviewer’s opinion, it was completely straight and devoid of irony. I’m not so sure I agree with that.
I was very “meh” about it. It seemed a bit too improv, and much of it didn’t work. I agree with the list of high points given by other posters here – I just don’t think they were high enough.
I knew going in that there would be a lot of songs. So that was going to be an issue. More Murray, less music is my motto.
Sort of good: they did my two favorite Xmas songs: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and Fairytale of New York. Nope.
The first, without Darlene Love and a big backing band doesn’t work. A voice that can nail a higher range and a wall of sound is a must.
The second was just done poorly. They even “cleaned up” the lyrics. And no trilled "R"s. Fie. OTOH, MrsFtG was amazed that I knew the song and could sing along.
And those were the songs I would have otherwise wanted to hear.
Overall, it just had a “first draft” feel.
Our stream cut out while trying to FF thru Silent Night and wouldn’t resume. Not sure if I’ll bother to finish watching it.
The “I was in Monuments Men.” exchange has to be from real life.
Yeah, I did too. I’m not usually an against the grain kind of guy, but I was disappointed. I thought it would be funnier. Love Bill Murray. Don’t blame him for doing it, but it was a big of a snooze. I guess it was just a standard Christmas special with a few laughs here or there. I don’t know what else I was hoping for.
George Clooney was pretty funny. Miley Cyrus looked weird, but I haven’t seen her in forever since I don’t watch commercial TV or anything. She sounded weird too. I thought she was a better singer.
I would have edited out the Michael Cera bit. It felt added on for no reason. In fact, I would have started with the song at the piano and had the power go out. Starting there would have made more sense.
Anyway, it wasn’t terrible, just kind of a bore. Oh, well.
Bumping. Seventh year watching this gem. I still love it.
It’s grown on my wife too. She’s the one who suggested we watch it last night. The whole thing is ridiculous, but that’s what makes it a charming bit of Christmas in our house. Anyone else turned this into an annual watch?