Johnny Depp’s performance as Scrooge slammed by American critics
The star’s big return in a studio film is far from unanimous. His new interpretation of Scrooge, in Ti West’s film, severely divides the American press, which particularly points the finger at the actor’s performance.
After several years away from major Hollywood productions, Johnny Depp hoped to return to the forefront with Scroogenew adaptation of Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, directed by Ti West (X). But the first reviews are far from offering him a warm welcome. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has 50% positive reviews based on 70 reviews. And it is above all the performance of its main actor which concentrates the attacks…
For IndieWire’s David Ehrlich, Johnny Depp’s game looks like “an Advent calendar filled with empty squares, without a soul to embody them, each shot overflowing with grimaces and devoid of emotion“. The critic goes so far as to estimate that the actor “seems to have become very bad at his job…“
Liz Shannon Miller of Consequence compares her version of the character unfavorably to that of Michael Caine in Christmas at the Muppets (The Muppet Christmas Carol) in 1992: “Too bad Depp’s performance is a bad joke compared to Michael Caine’s wonderful performance. Caine was playing puppets, but Depp did his best to imitate one.”she writes. She also criticizes the actor for never being able to make the transformation of the old miser into a generous man credible: “It’s still the same performance, just with a little more buffoonery.”
Nathaniel Halpern’s screenplay does not escape criticism either. In TheWrap, Amelia Emberwing judges failed attempts at humor: “His attempts at humor all fall flat, which leads to laughter at the film even though certain sequences were intended to be serious. But its biggest flaw is to rely on dialogues designed for an audience who has their eyes glued to a second screen: the script absolutely does not believe that spectators will look up from their phones to watch what is happening on the screen!“
Alison Willmore of Vulture, for her part, deplores an exhausting variation of the histrionic game that Johnny Depp has developed since the success of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean : “Depp delivers a tiresome variation of these outrageous facial expressions that have become his trademark since the role of Captain Jack Sparrow propelled him to the rank of star of the Disney franchises; a vaguely comic game, full of exaggerations, which clashes with the rest of the film. While the rest of the film leans towards the horrific dimension of Charles Dickens’ story, Depp seems to believe that he is playing in a family comedy…“
Likewise, Matt Zoller-Seitz of the site RogerEbert.com believes that “Depp’s usual acting tics – reminiscent of a “latex Marlon Brando” – are totally inappropriate for a work of such finesse; it almost seems like malicious sabotage of a film that does not deserve such disrespect!“
On the side of Los Angeles TimesAmy Nicholson points out a fundamental problem in Johnny Depp’s game. She recognizes a look in him “empathetic and touching”able to reveal the wounded child behind the miser, but blames him for making Scrooge “much too cute”. Above all, critics believe that the actor seems so eager to win back the public’s affection that it ends up parasitizing his interpretation: “The actor’s need to be loved – to claw his way out of what he fears is a grave for his career – ends up taking over the film.“
Not everyone hated it though. In Variety, Guy Lodge believes that Johnny Depp delivers a Scrooge “completely solid and faithful to the text“, with some moments of inspiration in the way he says the lines.
Frank Scheck, of the Hollywood Reporter, considers that Scrooge allows the actor to “regain his status as a Hollywood star”. He concludes: “His charisma and his power of attraction end up imposing themselves.“
Scrooge is currently to be seen at the cinema in France.
