A little while back there was some random social media challenge that was making the rounds where if challenged, you were given an actor and from their filmography you had to name a Movie You Love, Movie You Like, Movie You Hate and a Movie You Hate to Admit You Like.
I was challenged.
The actor I was given...Bill Murray.
I accepted.
This was sooooo hard to keep this post short, but I’ll try. (SPOILERS - I fail to keep this short, but it's worth it even though...it just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter! That was from Meatballs if you didn't know. Why didn't you know that? It's cool because...it just doesn't matter!)
Movie I Love: Scrooged - Such a tough question, because I do love many of his films. I mean, Ghostbusters, Caddyshack etc...but Scrooged is a film that warms my heart every single time I watch it. Yeah, I said it. Groundhog Day, which has a similar message is great, but in Scrooged Murray goes full A-hole. Murray as an A-Hole is fun to watch, especially over the holidays when you yourself fight the urge to be an a-hole even though you're surrounded by related a-holes. That makes it all the better when Murray is reformed and performs the sing-along at the end. The character arc is believable, probably because you've seen a million versions of A Christmas Carol, but it really drives the wholesome message home even if it’s not Christmas time.
Movie I Like: LARGER THAN LIFE - Sure it’s cool to say you like Bill Murray now, but before Rushmore, Murray wasn’t considered so great in the mid 90s. In this movie Bill Murray’s costar is an elephant. I like to think this is his Every Which Way But Loose, but not great. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s good enough to hold you over till two years later when the next era in Bill Murray fandom started with a little help from Wes Anderson. (Their next film together, The French Dispatch, is very Wes Anderson much like every Wes Anderson film and Wes Anderson himself.)
Movie I Hate: CHARLIE’S ANGELS - I could easily have gone with Garfield or its sequel, but they are just paychecks and that’s fine. A Bill Murray has to eat. Charlie’s Angels is a film where Murray plays the sidekick Bosley. The film doesn’t know how to use Murray, he doesn’t know what to do with the material and ultimately Murray doesn’t want to be there, and all seem painfully obvious. (That said, the sequel replaced Murray with Bernie Mac and Mac was great...the movie itself??? Not so much, but it wasn't made for me and maybe it has fans out there. Who really knows?)
Movie I Hate to Admit I Like: MAD DOG AND GLORY - First, I don’t hate to admit I like anything. (Ask me about Ernest Goes To Jail if you ever have two hours to kill.) This was another tough one. There’s the movie Where the Buffalo Roam that as a whole is not good at all, but the first 8 minutes where it’s only Murray in the cabin talking to himself as Hunter S. Thompson is better than Johnny Depp’s entire performance in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That said Mad Dog and Glory gets 0 word of mouth and is a very good movie and Murray is the villain and goes toe to toe with De Niro...and totally holds his own and is threatening.
Do you appreciate Bill Murray? Really? Do you have any of these things?
"Don't Hassle Me I'm Local" T-Shirt from What About Bob? - Sure, most people won't understand the reference, but the ones that do will be your best friends for life.
"Cinderella Story: My Life in Golf" - I bet you didn't know Bill Murray wrote a book. He did. You should read it.
"Thrill Murray" Coloring Book - I had this book. I got robbed. I don't have this book anymore. I will have this book again. You should get this book now.
Hyde Park on Hudson- I just don't think any of you have seen it.
"Spaghetti" - a canvas painting I did based on the classic film Meatballs.
"What About Art?" - a print of a painting I did of the one and only Bill Murray.
What Bill Murray movies do you hate, like, love and hate to admit you like? Let me know in the comments or keep it to yourself because it just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!! (That's still from Meatballs.)