Film Review: SPIRITED (2022): Funnymen Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are Pure Gold in the Zaniest Musical of the Year

Spirited Review

Spirited (2022) Film Review, a movie directed by Sean Anders, written by John Morris and Sean Anders and starring Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Octavia Spencer, Patrick Page, Sunita Mani, Loren G. Woods, Tracy Morgan, Joe Tippett, Marlow Barkley, Aimee Carrero, Andrea Anders, Jen Tullock, Adam Grupper, Rose Byrne and Naheem Garcia.

Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds are a comic dream team as the duo featured in Sean Anders’s hilariously funny musical, Spirited. Yes, this movie is the most inspired fun you’ll have this holiday season and guess what? This film also plays like a Broadway musical at times with some of the best background dancers I’ve ever seen tap dancing and moving and grooving like true masters of their craft. Anders’s movie can touch the heart too at times, but the flat-out awesome dance numbers are what the film will be remembered most for.

Will Ferrell is the star of the movie. Ferrell plays the Ghost of Christmas Present whose boss, Marley (Patrick Page) conducts a yearly tradition of redeeming an everyday jerk. Ryan Reynolds serves as Clint Briggs, the “Scrooge” of this movie who is clearly inspired by Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Clint is the type of guy who tells his gravely ill sister, Carrie (a terrific Andrea Anders) that he cannot help her with his own niece, Wren (Marlow Barkley), as Carrie ends up in the hospital facing a potentially dire future. Still, though, Clint could be saved under the right ghostly guidance.

Octavia Spencer plays a very bright supporting role in the picture as Clint’s assistant, Kimberly. In another movie, this character could have been just in the background but, here, Spencer’s talents are utilized almost to their full potential as the aging Ghost of Christmas Present begins to develop a bit of a fascination with Kimberly. It’s all so very fun to watch.

Sunita Mani as the Ghost of Christmas Past seemed to be an odd casting choice at first (she doesn’t seem funny on the surface) but Mani proved me wrong and then some as she has some of the most energetic charisma in the picture, especially during the musical interludes in which she appears. Mani plays her role to absolute perfection and Tracy Morgan as the voice of Christmas Yet-To-Come (embodied by Loren G. Woods) has some of the zingiest one-liners in the picture.

There are three particularly memorable songs in the movie and in no particular order, they are as follows: “The View from Here,” “Do a Little Good” and the film’s most hysterical showstopper. “Good Afternoon.” Three terrific songs in just one film…well that’s most definitely a movie rarity. All the songs are endearing and enjoyable to watch in their own right and will leave most audience members tapping their toes.

Spirited manages to make the most of every scene even going as far as to spoof Cameron Crowe films like …Say Anything and Jerry Maguire. Why? Well, just to please movie buffs and that’s just brilliant. I certainly don’t think when the song, “In Your Eyes” (from …Say Anything) plays in the background or when a key character needs someone to join him as he starts his career over on his own (the scenario from Jerry Maguire), it’s coincidental. I know Ferrell’s sense of humor very well and Sean Anders’s comic work, too. I believe they are clearly spoofing Cameron Crowe pictures in these sequences. Again, why, you ask? Well to quote a key line in Crowe’s own We Bought a Zoo, “Why not?”

And, when Judi Dench passes by during a wonderful musical interlude, the two main characters discuss how they love Dench, especially her work in the movie, Chocolat. This is another scene that could have been left on the cutting room floor but instead plays like gangbusters.

Spirited jumps around in time as the Dickens classic does. The businessman Briggs, as played by Reynolds, is wonderfully conceived as a character. Reynolds brings his own sense of timing, energy and personality to the role. Even though, he may seem crude, he is redeemable. By not letting him become too unlikable even when he does mean things, the filmmakers make us invested in his situation. We want to see him come to terms with the errors of his ways.

However, this is Ferrell’s movie. Ferrell emerges with his best performance since Stranger Than Fiction. Ferrell doesn’t have the best singing voice but he’s heartfelt and his mannerisms are creative and enjoyable to watch. He even creates some believable chemistry with Spencer in some scenes which could have been just plain dumb in a lesser film. Ferrell is back in top form and audiences will simply love his work here.

There is no predictability here. Even the ending where we get the dance number of the year with “Do a Little Good” has a scene directly following it which will surprise viewers. It’s heartfelt and takes risks. Spirited very often takes big risks. By letting Reynolds and Ferrell (who particularly shines bright) do their thing, it’s like granting the audience’s wish for a jolly good time which this movie delivers and then some.

Spirited will definitely make the viewer feel a wide range of emotions throughout the picture. If the background dancers didn’t shine and give 100 percent to what they were doing, then the film could have been less entertaining. Everybody involved put their hearts into this picture and it shows. From a cinematic standpoint, it may not be the most thought-provoking movie of the year but it’s the wildest, funniest holiday movie that’s most accessible to everyday comedy film audiences. Don’t miss it.

Rating: 8.5/10

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