SPIRITED is feel good fun
A social media age take on A Christmas Carol with show tunes and dance numbers is just what the doctor ordered.
True Confessions: I’ve been feeling down lately - a combination of seasonal affective gloom, career confusion, and news like this latest survey from ADL, which unfortunately makes Some Kind of Hate all the more timely of a novel.
I’ve been fighting the blues with things like exercise, reading good books (Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a book that my daughter and I both LOVED), planning visits with friends, and checking in with my psychiatrist. I’ve been here before. I know the drill.
Last night as we sat on the sofa looking for something to watch, I told H that I needed something FUNNY. He wasn’t in the mood for stand-up so we kept looking. Eventually we landed on SPIRITED, the new remake of Dickens’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL starring Ryan Reynolds, Will Farrell, Sunita Mani, Octavia Spencer, Tracy Morgan and Patrick Page.
We were very pleasantly surprised. It’s humorous and hokey, and it hit the spot for a feel-good movie. The music is terrific - with original songs by Dear Evan Hansen's Tony-winning lyricist and composer, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The big dance numbers are brilliant, with choreography by Emmy-nominated Chloe Arnold.
It hit some deep and timely notes about social media, and how it’s used as an outrage machine. Reynold’s plays the supposedly irredeemable one who is the target of this year’s operation. He’s been updated from the miserly Scrooge to a ruthless media consultant whose job is “creating controversy, conflict and disinformation for the benefit of his clients worldwide.”
Writing Some Kind of Hate made me examine my feelings about redemption, as well as the Jewish teachings on the subject. Spirited does the same, asking us to think about forgiveness and redemption while entertaining us with catchy show tunes and spectacular dance numbers.
Check it out for some feel-good fun. It might be just what the doctor ordered!