Christmas Karma review Dickens adaptation has as much Yuletide spirit as a dead rat in the eggnog

"Big Bang Theory star Kunal Nayyar lifelessly and joylessly plays a Scrooge variant called Mr Sood, part of the Ugandan south Asian community expelled by Idi Amin in his childhood, and embittered by early poverty. An early romance soured because of his obsession with money, and he has become a grasping and unpleasant old guy in London (cue stock footage of the London skyline) in the rather quaintly imagined business of moneylending, with his now dead partner Jacob Marley, played by Hugh Bonneville."

"But after petulant displays of boorish meanness with his nephew, employees and the cheerful Cockney Christmas-jumper-wearing cabbie played by Danny Dyer (surely Mr Sood knows that Ubers are cheaper?), he is visited by Marley's ghost and then the spirits of Christmas past, present and future (played by Eva Longoria, Billy Porter and Boy George). The very worst moment comes when we get to see Bob Cratchit in his humble abode with his family, including the heartbreakingly but discreetly disabled Tiny Tim."

Gurinder Chadha directs a cynical, leaden retelling of A Christmas Carol featuring Kunal Nayyar as a Scrooge-like Mr Sood. Mr Sood is portrayed as an embittered member of the Ugandan south Asian community expelled by Idi Amin, whose early poverty and soured romance hardened him into a moneylender in London alongside his late partner Jacob Marley (Hugh Bonneville). The film stages visits from Marley's ghost and the spirits of Christmas past, present and future, played by Eva Longoria, Billy Porter and Boy George. Scenes intended to show hardship instead present affluent settings, and performances and tone feel unconvincing and nauseatingly sentimental.

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