A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |

Ghost World

Movie: A

Sound: A

Picture: A

Reviewed By: David

MGM and Director Terry Zwigoff team up to bring you "Ghost World"

"A Stunner Of A Film… A Winner!" - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

They're high school graduates - and the world's got hell to pay! Hot new talents Thora Birch (American Beauty) and Scarlett Johansson (The Horse Whisperer) "sneak into your heart and stay there" (Rolling Stone) in this "uproariously funny" (Premiere) comedy from the acclaimed director of Crumb. With Brad Renfro (Deuces Wild), Illeana Douglas (Stir of Echoes) and Steve Buscemi (Fargo) in "the best role of his career" (Movieline), this "whip-smart comedy" is "a surprise gem" (People)!

When their classmates head for college, Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson) focus their energies on tormenting those around them! From a goofy convenience store clerk (Renfro) to an eccentric art teacher (Douglas), these two saboteurs wreak havoc on all those who cross their paths. But when they zero in on an oddball loner (Buscemi) looking for Miss Right, their seemingly innocent meddling threatens to shatter one of their hearts… not to mention their lifelong friendship!

Enid and Rebecca do have some sort of future goal which is to move into an apartment together. Rebecca diligently garners a job at a local Starbucks while Enid doesn't seem to have the gumption to do much of anything but while away her hours on her own terms. Required to take a summer art class with an unconventional feminist teacher (Illeana Douglas) in order to officially receive her diploma, Enid spends the rest of her time running around with Rebecca stopping at the coffee shops to watch the people and dropping by a convenience store to bug one of their classmates, Josh.

Just for some fun, Enid and Rebecca jokingly answer a personals ad, only to spy on the terribly shy and dorky Seymour (Steve Buscemi) waiting listlessly for a woman who is not going to show up at his door. Enid is surprised to find herself sympathizing with Seymour all of a sudden and ends up striking up a friendship with him when she starts drifting away from the more ambitious Rebecca.

Enid can be somewhat cruel and stubborn at times but she does have a good heart and as her life progresses throughout the summer she finds what little plans she used to have slowly are drifting away. Enid is one of the most purely original character creations in years and she turns out to also be one of the most likable one's. She may be overly honest and opinionated but that is just one more reason to fall in love with her.

"Ghost World" is kinda dark, but much natural humor that comes out of the characters and situations allows it to also stand out as a comic delight. When Enid finally does get a job, it is to work at a movie theater, but she is fired on the very first day. When one customer asks if they serve alcohol at the concession stand, Enid's response is, "I wish! Actually, you should wish, because after seeing this movie you're gonna wish you had ten beers." And when another customer orders a buttered popcorn, Enid presents it to her by saying, "Here's your yellow chemical sludge." (geezzz)

My final thoughts on this DVD are that this was also not just a fun film but you'll be thinking about this film for a few days after watching it. It's not just another comedy either, it has a couple moments that have this weird umm... 'sadness' radiating from it. It is kinda hard to explain, but there were some parts where the situation was pretty funny and yet in a way pretty sad. Many parts of this film were like that with two opposite emotions playing against each other. Making for a more interesting movie and emitting a certain irony from some scenes.

Click here to purchase this movie from our DVD store.

Edition Details:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby