On December 4, Bill Murray will attempt to revive the tradition of the celebrity Christmas special with his Netflix special, A Very Murray Christmas. The first trailer has just been released, and it is delightful. Directed by Sofia Coppola, the special stars Murray and a slew of celebrity guests, including Amy Poehler, Julie White (judging you if you don’t know her), Rashida Jones, Miley Cyrus, Michael Cera, and George Clooney. The premise is a show-within-a-show, as Murray’s “international Christmas special” is cancelled because of a blizzard, and he has to put together entertainments with whatever and whomever he can find around the Carlyle Hotel.
Netflix’s creative mandate is pretty much, “Here’s some money, now go away,” so I’m excited to see what Murray and Coppola have come up with working, essentially, in a vacuum. Celebrity Christmas specials used to be a big deal, and I don’t know if Murray can resurrect the whole subgenre, but at least this one entry looks good. I really like the dig at Monuments Men, and the way Murray says, “We don’t have time to find out if you can dance.” I also look forward to all the #WarOnChristmas bullsh*t we’ll be treated to even as one of the biggest celebrities in the world has made a CHRISTMAS special for one of the biggest worldwide entertainment platforms, yet there’s no Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Special or Patton Oswalt’s Wintertime Spirit Celebration. It’s not even Thanksgiving and the Christmas season is already making me hate people even more than I already do.
