Ebenezer review: Depp's comeback is a mixed bag

Johnny Depp hasn't led a big studio movie since his defamation trial against Amber Heard. His comeback is the most famous ghost story of them all, and it's a strange, handsome, uneven thing.

The verdict: Ebenezer looks gorgeous and has real chills, but its Scrooge is the weakest part of it. Critics are split down the middle: it has 53% on Rotten Tomatoes from 114 reviews and a Metascore of 46.

Ti West, the horror director behind X and Pearl, directs from a script by Nathaniel Halpern, based on Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

Depp plays the miser who hates Christmas, visited on Christmas Eve by his dead partner Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen) and three ghosts: Andrea Riseborough as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Tramell Tillman as the Ghost of Christmas Present and Robert Strange as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Rupert Grint is Bob Cratchit, Sam Claflin plays Scrooge's nephew Fred and Daisy Ridley is Fred's wife, Clara.

Paramount opened it in US and UK cinemas on Friday, Nov. 13, on a reported $38 million budget. Depp reportedly took a pay cut to make it, $5 million instead of his usual $20 million, according to World of Reel.

A proper ghost story

Start with what works, because there's plenty. West has made a Christmas Carol that actually wants to frighten you, and it does.

The Hollywood Reporter suggested it may be the first version of the story that isn't really suitable for young children, and Variety's Guy Lodge warned it is "too frightening for many children and too old hat for many adults".

The look is the selling point: snowy Victorian streets shot in London, Dublin and the Historic Dockyard Chatham in Kent, lit by candles and gloom. RogerEbert.com's Matt Zoller Seitz called the film "skillfully done", with a retro-classical style.

The Telegraph was the biggest fan, saying it "breathes a cool, fresh, spectral, humbug-free breath down the spine of this beloved festive tale".

The supporting cast is stacked, from McKellen's Marley to Tillman's towering ghost.

Even the critics who disliked it mostly liked the film around its star. Vulture's Alison Willmore called it pretty good apart from its lead.

The Scrooge problem

And that's the catch. Depp is in nearly every scene, and how much you enjoy Ebenezer depends almost entirely on how much you enjoy him.

IndieWire's David Ehrlich gave it a C- and called his performance "insufferable". Willmore said Depp is "doing a tiresome variation on the mugging", and Zoller Seitz said his "standard Marlon-Brando-in-latex bag of tricks is all wrong for a work of such delicacy".

IGN put it more kindly, saying the horror-forward approach does "a respectable enough job", but the Depp performance "pulls more focus than is necessary".

The real problem is the tone. Vulture said the film leans towards horror while Depp seems to think he's in a family comedy, and the gap between the two never quite closes.

The Irish Times put it best: "you sense a much better film longing to escape his awkward embrace."

He has his defenders. Lodge found him "a perfectly solid, by-the-book Scrooge", and The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck said Depp's "charisma and star power eventually come through".

Audiences seem warmer than critics, too. Preview crowds gave it 4.5 stars on PostTrak, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it, according to Wikipedia.

That may be enough for Paramount. The film made $1.5 million from Thursday previews, and Deadline projected an opening weekend of more than $20 million, which would give Depp his first No. 1 in eight years, Yahoo reported.

If you love a gothic Christmas, or you have always wanted A Christmas Carol with real scares, Ebenezer is worth the trip. The ghosts, the snow and the supporting cast all deliver.

Depp fans will find plenty to love, and everyone else will find plenty to roll their eyes at. It's PG-13 and runs 1 hour 56 minutes, but leave the little ones at home.

See it in a cinema for the atmosphere. Just don't expect the comeback of the year.