Tonight I’ve been watching the versions of ACC where the central character is a woman. I’m starting with A Diva’s Christmas Carol though I’m adding it in later. This effort was done by VH1 in the year 2000. It is probably the best movie VH1 has ever produced. (That’s saying a lot.)
The “Diva” is Vanessa Williams in the role of Ebony Scrooge. The very talented Williams does a decent job as the main character but she deserved a better script/adaptation. Despite the fact that this is a female reworking of A Christmas Carol, it makes an attempt to faithfully follow the story, but falls short conveying its message.
In this version, Ebony Scrooge is a world-class pop star who, of course, is very greedy, miserly, and doesn’t treat other people well. In her past she was part of a 1980s female vocal group, a trio of friends: Ebony, Marli, and Terry. After the group’s success, Ebony’s selfishness broke them up. Marli Jacobs (Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of TLC) developed a drug problem and died in a car crash. Terry was ignored and fell into obscurity partially because of Ebony.
Ebony decides to perform a “charity” concert in NYC on Christmas Day; she makes all her disgruntled band members and employees work the concert on Christmas Day while she slyly pockets most of the proceeds. This is against the suggestion of Bob Crachit, her manager and right-hand lackey. Cratchit has a frustrated wife and sick son (Tim, of course). Since she is in New York, she receives a visit from her niece, Olivia, who just wants her to visit and spend Christmas with her. From here, the movie follows the general template of A Christmas Carol. Most of the changes occur as needed because of the gender change or contemporary and geographical settings.
The story is adequate and entertaining with some very light comedy with some actual funny lines throughout.
When the ghosts show up, particularly the three Christmas ghosts, is when the adaptation gets weak. Marli appears in a leather and decorative chains outfit you’d expect to see on a pop star. However, Marli states, “These chains are to represent my mistakes, how I messed up my life.” (Lame.) The adaptation give us an early indication that Marli’s conditions may be only temporary as she says to Ebony, “My hell is watching you mess up your life.” This is a serious break from Dickensian tradition since the original Jacob Marley’s fate is eternally unchangeable. But this divergence from Dickens isn’t original and has been done before though it’s not common. For example, another female version, 1997’s Ms. Scrooge, had a female Marley who could escape her punishment by reforming Ms. Scrooge.
Kathy Griffin plays the Ghost of Christmas Past. This is an unfortunate casting choice as her appearance makes the movie tiresome with the script’s forced humor and bad jokes she has to deliver. There is also an odd humor attempt to have Kathy Griffin’s ghost changing outfits with every past scene that they go through; this becomes overplayed quickly.
The past scenes offer an interesting innovation of this version: Bob Crachett also stands in for this version’s male equivalent of Belle, the past love. Bob Crachett is also Ebony’s boyfriend before her success. But it is Ebony (Ebenezer) that initiates the breakup instead of Bob (Belle) but keeps him on as her manager.
The Ghost of Christmas Present is both the worst casted and played. Duran Duran’s John Taylor plays the Ghost (proving that even in more recent times, rock musicians should just stick to being rock musicians). Most time’s, there is nothing worse than an Englishman in a cowboy hat! Enough said. They present the Ghost as hardly a spirit of good, being a raunchy, hedonistic rock star. Even for a VH1 television made movie, the special effects could have been better. The special effects are at their worst during the Ghost of Christmas Present’s scenes. He shows Ebony scenes of the present via running at super speed, sadly making this poor effect a laughable aspect. We at least get a brief glimpse into the former One World Trade Center plaza as they rush through it.
The Ghost of Christmas-Yet-to-Come (future) isn’t played by a person. Instead, the movie represents the Ghost as an episode VH1’s then popular television show Behind the Music. (I admit this is clever though blatantly self-promoting). Ebony wakes to view a future episode of Behind the Music based on her life; she hears about all the unfortunate future events of her career and what those in the business, and her life, actually thought of her. On the plus side, Nile Rogers appears as himself in the fake Behind the Music segments.
The story ends, as expected, with Ebony turning over a new leaf. She runs around Christmas Day to start making up for her selfish and greedy ways before her concert. But during the ghostly visits, there is barely enough lead-up to her transformation, and it seems to come out of nowhere on Christmas morning.
Added characters (Ebony’s accountant and her friend Terry) and their events also wind up in the reformed Ebony scenes. Ebony fires her accountant since she learned he was embezzling from her during the ghost scenes. She finds her impoverished friend Terry and has her appear on stage with her during the Christmas charity concert.
A too drastic liberty in the adaptation is the happy ending for Marli as well. During the charity concert when Ebony and Terry are singing together again, the ghost of Marli watches happily. Marli then fades away indicating her “punishment” is now over. Unlike another female versions where Marley seeks potential redemption, this is the first was see her go off to a happy ending.
The original song Vanessa Williams performs for the concert scene near the end is on the plus side, as this movie needs it! (see below) This is an average adaptation of A Christmas Carol that was probably more ambitious than it could deliver despite the talent of Vanessa Williams.