Almost all reviewers rating Ebenezer seem to be circling around the same question: How exactly do we feel about Johnny Depp starring in a major studio film again?
Ideally, Ti West’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol provides plenty of metaphorical fodder given that this is a redemption story, after all, with Depp’s Scrooge containing lines such as “I’m not the man I used to be!” and “I was once good, and I know I can be good again!”
Still, many critics aren’t convinced by the film — or Depp, for that matter, with the actor once again buried in makeup and prosthetics. The film currently has a 51% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, and even the positive reviews tend to be a bit tempered (it will be interesting to see if audiences score for Ebenezer is significantly higher, as critics tasked with covering the film may well have more negative feelings toward Depp than toward fans). The film’s supporting cast – including Rupert Grint, Ian McKellen, Andrea Riseborough, Daisy Ridley and Tramell Tillman – are widely praised.
Here is a sampling of reviews from major publications. Ebenezer opens Friday (watch the final trailer below).
The Hollywood Reporter: “Johnny Depp really needed a way to come back, and he found an effective one in Ti West’s horror-tinged adaptation, which allows the actor to deliver the kind of offbeat theatrical performance for which he has become famous. Ebenezer doesn’t break any new ground, aside from the fact that this is perhaps the first version of the story that isn’t really suitable for young children, it fulfills its ostensible goal of returning the actor to A-list status… Depp… delivers a performance that no one would call subtle. In style, he most closely resembles Albert Finney’s heavily made-up version of the character from the now largely forgotten 1970 musical. Scrooge. But the actor’s charisma and star power eventually shine through.”
Vulture: “Johnny Depp is the worst part of Ebenezerbut he’s also the reason he exists, so there’s no point trying to separate his presence from the rest of the film, which is, unfortunately, pretty good. Depp also does a tedious variation on the mugging that has become his main acting approach since the role of Captain Jack Sparrow catapulted him to the Disney franchise’s level of fame – a vaguely comedic, scenery-chewing mode that doesn’t fit with the rest of the film… West’s renditions of the spirits who visit the miser in the wee hours of the night are imaginatively frightening, particularly the Ghost of Christmas Past, played by Andrea Riseborough as a sort of corpse. bride dressed all in white with rheumy eyes.
The New York Times: “It’s an attempt to play as many hits as possible in a single role. Whether consciously or simply through a lack of creativity, the aging star is primarily playing an agreeable version of himself, intended to fondly recall the Depp-in-drag iconography he’s created for himself over the past few decades… Ebenezer is implicitly marketing himself on the empirically flimsy idea of a beloved Depp who has been kidnapped. If you don’t Don’t squint so hard, his Scrooge could function not only as a return, but also as a memory wipe.
The times United Kingdom: “So it’s just a shame that the film around him, directed by horror filmmaker Ti West (Pearl,), is extremely uninspired and has little to offer to the already bloated canon of Christmas Carol adaptations. The 1951 Alastair Sim version, the 1988 Bill Murray comedy, and the 1992 Muppet musical reboot are all vastly superior to this surprisingly vanilla version. …But really, it’s just a chance for audiences to see that Depp, like the character he plays, is eminently redeemable and ready again, in the strongest possible terms, for his close-up.
Boston Globe: “Under all that makeup, Depp is by far the worst Scrooge I’ve ever seen. His performance is a hollow, soulless shell, never once convincing us of Scrooge’s avaricious rage or his ultimate redemption. There’s not an ounce of humanity in this performance; it might as well have been generated with AI.”
The guardian: “As Scrooge himself, Depp is actually quite good; theatrically angry and irritable and, as with his Jack Sparrow, I suspect that Depp’s comic timing and sonorous British accent might have been learned from his old Fast Show comrade Paul Whitehouse. He is better as the unredeemed Scrooge than in the version saved at the end, where some of the abject pathos is missing. It’s a pretty decent new version, avoiding any new big takes revisionist who could have slammed.
Slashfilm: “With the exception of a small moment here and there, Depp’s Scrooge is largely solid but unremarkable. Which begs the question: why bother in the first place? It seems like the entire film Ebenezer was arranged to allow Depp to chew scenery and put on a spectacle, something the actor perversely refuses to do. It’s possible that Depp now views such an approach as something that no longer interests him, and it’s not as if he hasn’t given concrete performances before, like his turn as John Dillinger in Public Enemies, for example. Depp’s performance as Scrooge just doesn’t seem fully realized.
IndieWire: “Although Depp was never the most subtle actor, his abandonment of artistic curiosity after Sparrow has stretched his talents into such a grotesque caricature of their old-world charm that Ebenezer left me feeling like I might never be able to empathize with his screen presence again… Given the director’s emphasis on the film’s genre twist, it’s ironic and surprising that Ebenezer is at its best when it focuses on the most basic human elements of its story, if only because the supporting characters provide such a welcome contrast to anything Depp does.
The beast of the day: “Ebenezer has enough commendable qualities to justify its existence, and Depp solidly balances Scrooge’s nastiness, stupidity, and, well, kindness… Not fresh enough to become a classic, but with enough fright to disturb its younger viewers, West’s latest is a competent, precise tale fit for the Christmas season—and, perhaps just as crucially, a Depp vehicle that suggests the beleaguered star isn’t yet ready to give up his star status.
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