The Ghost of Christmas Past was interesting and even a
little spooky, with its flaming and disembodied head that kept floating away
from its body. Where I had a problem was with the Ghost of Christmas Present.
It was the usual rotund being sitting on top of a pile of food which didn’t, by
some miraculous artifice, collapse. OK, that’s in the book; but it kept
laughing even when there was nothing to laugh at. It was a typical stage laugh –
over the top and wholly unconvincing. This agent of regressive therapy didn’t
come across as the Ghost of Christmas Present at all, but as a gauche and
slightly demented chain store Santa who doesn’t know where the line lies
between funny and just plain irritating; in short, the sort of person you hide
from at parties
Carey can be a skilled actor when he puts his mind to it,
but more often than not he takes cheap refuge in the obvious, the unsubtle, and
the utterly unfunny – which was why I didn’t make it to the Ghost of Christmas
Yet to Come. I suppose I should have done, just to see what Carey made of a character
who has no face and doesn’t talk.
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