Johnny Depp has made a career out of playing weirdos, outsiders and miscreants, imbuing them with his trademark sense of quirkiness, humanity and whimsy. It's his stock-in-trade.

Same goes for his work in "Ebenezer." The role of Ebenezer Scrooge seems like a foregone conclusion for the actor, to the point where it's surprising it took him this long to play him.

But the fact that Depp is playing the role now, at 63, and following a high-profile public fallout from his domestic abuse case, gives the role a different resonance. By the time Scrooge learns his lesson and goes around town seeking forgiveness for his wrongs, there's more than a little bit of Depp himself creeping up to the surface.

"Ebenezer" is Depp's most high-profile role in nearly a decade, and his first Hollywood production since he got the boot from the "Fantastic Beasts" franchise in 2018. (Upside: No more "Fantastic Beasts" films.) He plays the famous grouch with his face scrunched up and a downturned frown; he's the meanest, nastiest, cheapest ol' son of a gun in town — until he's not.

By now, everyone knows the story of "A Christmas Carol," and even if you don't, you know what a Scrooge is, or what the term represents.

Depp's Scrooge is a cheapskate businessman in Victorian London, every bit as much of a sourpuss tightwad as his business partner, Jacob Marley (Ian McKellen). They both derive pleasure from the misery of others, dismissing any acts of kindness or good nature with a huffed "humbug!" They especially have no room in their hearts for their young apprentice, Bob Cratchit ("Harry Potter's" Rupert Grint), making him work on Christmas Day.

Ebenezer's outlook changes as he's visited one fateful Christmas Eve by three ghosts, including Andrea Riseborough's Ghost of Christmas Past and Tramell Tillman's Ghost of Christmas Present, depicted here as tortured, trapped souls.

Director Ti West primarily works in the horror space — he directed Mia Goth in "X," "Pearl" and "MaXXXine" — and he leans into the story's Gothic underpinnings. "A Christmas Carol" is a malleable enough story that it's been made into musicals and comedies ranging from "Scrooged" to "Mickey's Christmas Carol" to "Spirited," but West keeps his tale on the spooky side, and it's perhaps too unnerving for younger audience members.

Visually, "Ebenezer" is slightly drab, and some of the story beats are so familiar as to be redundant. Again, it's a story that's been told so many times that the audience is overly familiar with it, perhaps to this telling's own detriment.

But Depp does effective work as the head humbugger, and the story is a reminder of his effectiveness as a performer, which had been largely worked into the ground by the late '00s and early '10s. His faded charm benefits his performance and makes the character's redemption by the story's end all the more vivid.

Depp plays the role straight, for the most part; there's no Capt. Jack Sparrow looniness in his performance. He's down the middle in a way that serves the part, playing his role with clarity and self-awareness; there's baggage there, he knows it, and it's his most effective work in a very long time.

"Ebenezer" doesn't break any new ground, nor does it try to; it's an old-fashioned — which is to say faithful — holiday tale meant to be told over and over again. It's better than a bah humbug.

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'EBENEZER'

Grade: B-

MPA rating: PG-13 (for frightening material)

Running time: 1:56

How to watch: In theaters Nov. 13

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