Crescent Entertainment
Susan Lucci, Wendy Crewson, Ron Lea, Molly Parker, Lorena Gale, Jennifer Clement, Nicole Parker, Susan Hogan, Kevin McNulty, Taran Noah Smith
Ebbie is another modern retelling of A Christmas Carol by Dickens. It’s from 1995, but it’s still pretty fresh. It’s also one of the cleverest updates to the story, but for some reason, for me, it’s not nearly the best. I am not sure why it fails, but it just doesn’t seem interesting enough.
This is the story of a ruthless business-woman who owns a department store. Her name is Elizabeth (Ebby) Scrooge. Her partner, Jake Marley is dead, but keeps popping up in some unusual locations (no mere doorknockers here) until he finally catches up with Ebbie in an elevator and informs her that she will “have to take 3 meetings”. Of course she’d rather have a conference call and get them all over with at once.
Well, you get the idea. The “ghosts” in this version are very strange (although I guess not quite as strange as William Shatner in “A Carol Christmas”) but the do make an attempt to actually use a lot of well known Dickens phrases verbatim from the book. This tends to keep reminding you of whose story you’re watching. The first “ghost” are actually two bimbos (?) who don’t make much sense. The next appointment is with (get this) a jolly lady dressed up in ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, and a hat decorated with scissors. (Christmas PRESENT, get it!) Then they have to actually SAY it in case you missed it.
All in all it’s not a bad redo of Scrooge. It’s sharp looking, the actors do a good job, the settings are good, but all the “spirit” of the original “little ghost story” is pretty much ruined by the constant references to business meetings, appointment, and conferences. The Crachet’s just don’t cut it either. Poor Tim can’t get better because the insurance plan at the store sucks. This movie could have been a lot better.
** Ebbie (1995),
