BEWARE OF FALSE REVIEWS & REVIEWERS. SOME REVIEWERS HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW TO THEIR NAME. NOW WHEN ITS A POSITIVE REVIEW THAT TELLS ME THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE MOVIE. IF ITS A NEGATIVE REVIEW THEN THEY MIGHT HAVE A GRUDGE AGAINST THE FILM . NOW I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 300 HOLIDAY FILMS. I HAVE NO AGENDA.If it wasn't bad enough that Bill Murray made a so-so version of "A Christmas Carol" he had to sink lower and make a terrible Christmas Special that only he would love or watch! Even hardcore fans of Murray's will be hard pressed to say something great about this!The plot of this On Christmas Eve, Bill Murray waits in his suite at the Carlyle Hotel, gradually realizing that a massive snowstorm has caused most of the guests for his live Christmas special to cancel. As time runs out, his two producers, Liz (Amy Poehler), and Bev (Julie White), coerce him into going on with the show, as he is financially on the hook if he cancels. With minimal crew, Murray goes live; but in the middle of singing a song, he begins to weep and then flees the studio. While trying to leave the hotel, he sees Chris Rock, whom he forces into performing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" with him. During a power outage, Rock flees, and the producers inform Murray that as the power outage Rock flees, and the outage is considered an Act of God the special can now be cancelled.Now other things happen and what should be heart warming becomes stupid and boring. Talent-less Hollywood Hack Sofia Coppola help co-write and directed this mess. This special is like getting socks for Christmas!

It was boring. It starts bad. It starts as some sort of a parody of a TV show. And it goes worse. I have a feeling it was supposed to be a comedy. But it is not funny. And at the same time the script does not say anything. It's not some irony or social critique. It is just the youngsters visiting the retirement home. Sad moments of the end of life.Contact me with Questions, Comments or Suggestions ryitfork @ bitmail.ch

I doubt I would have turned this on if it wasn't the Christmas season. As the title says, everyone loves Bill Murray and I certainly wouldn't pass up a chance to do what he does best. The thing is though, this is a Christmas special in disguise as a parody of Christmas specials. I turned it on for something to watch, I didn't dismiss it but I'll admit I was far from riveted.*Minor Spoilers Ahead* Bill Murray (as himself) is supposed to do a televised Christmas special that night at a swanky hotel in New York. But he's bummed out and starts singing with his friend Paul Schaffer (as himself) on accompanying piano about those "Christmas Blues." His guests have largely cancelled on him, the hotel is pretty much deserted. But he's contractually obliged to do the show anyway and the producers including Liz (Amy Poehler) are pushing him to go on anyway. Everyone's looking for a piece of Bill though, he even bumps into an aspiring manager Jackie (Michael Cera) who tries to pitch him on signing with him in the stairwell. Bill eventually gets to the lobby with Paul, they go on and it bombs. Bill is desperate for someone to co-host with, he even drags poor Chris Rock (as himself) who is literally just passing by the hotel. After that doesn't work, they decide to call it, leaving Bill to mingle with the other guests that have been trapped by the snowstorm.Bill Murray has done some solid dramatic work but he's still a comedic actor first. If this had been funny, it probably would have covered most of the other problems with it. They key is that it's not that funny. Bill seems to be riffing most of the time when he isn't singing but that both hits and misses. I get this is primarily about the music but as I'll get to later, the music really isn't that impressive either.I didn't think that this worked very well but I wouldn't blame it on the actors though. Bill is always charming and there are some cool cameos. George Clooney showing up was nice, people like Amy Poehler, Jason Schwartzman, Rashida Jones, Maya Rudolph and Chris Rock were all good. This felt like some friends hanging out and just deciding to turn the camera on. They all had a nice rapport with each other and I can't fault them for that.So the other thing is the music. The songs aren't bad, the problem is that not everyone in the cast can sing. Miley Cyrus, Rashida Jones, Jenny Lewis and surprisingly Maya Rudolph were decent. Other members of the cast just didn't measure up. I think that this would have worked a little better if they had balanced out the jokes and the musical numbers a little better but I guess that wasn't the intention.I understand what this was meant to be, it's more of a slice of life situation but this is such an odd mix of genres that it kind of just falls flat on it's face. I don't want to be too hard on A Very Murray Christmas, I just caught this on Netflix when I didn't have much else to do. But this still didn't work for me, I'd recommend you watch some different Xmas related programming instead.

A Very Murray Christmas (2015)** (out of 4)This Christmas special was made for Netflix and when you've got a talented director like Sofia Coppola and a talented actor like Bill Murray you expect much better. The story has Murray set to perform a live Christmas show but NYC has been hit by a major snowstorm so he's worried none of the stars will show up. Not only do we get Murray but we also have Paul Shaffer, Michael Cera, David Johansen, Amy Poehler, Chris Rock, Jason Schwartzman, Miley Cyrus and George Clooney.There are many problems with this 56 minute special but the biggest is the fact that it's simply not funny. While watching the film I couldn't help but wonder what they were even trying to do. Show off a great cast? Perhaps because that's really the only thing that the movie accomplishes. Murray is always fun to watch but he really isn't given much to do here outside of singing some songs, which he adds a nice spin on. Clooney shows up towards the end and while it's fun seeing him in something like this he really isn't given too much to do. The scene-stealer is Cyrus who sings three songs but takes the movie with a wonderful version of Silent Night.