For the opening quarter, this is a joyously black Christmas treat with Bill Murray at his sour-faced best as a monstrous TV executive preparing for the festive break by sacking staff, planning a season of violence and ordering mini antlers to be stapled on the heads of mice. However, being an update of A Christmas Carol, it is not long before sentimentality starts seeping in, as Murray is shown what a miserable heel he is by unconventional ghosts John Forsythe, Carol Kane and David Johansen. It's a missed opportunity, but some gags still hit the mark and there's a stream of starry cameos: Robert Mitchum, John Houseman, Buddy Hackett, Lee Majors and Mary Lou Retton.

Frank Cross is a wildly successful television executive whose cold ambition and curmudgeonly nature has driven away the love of his life. But after firing a staff member on Christmas Eve, Frank is visited by a series of ghosts who give him a chance to re-evaluate his actions and right the wrongs of his past.