Review of Ghost World (2001) by Ryan O — 19 Mar 2010
Ghost World is a 2001 comedy/coming of age film staring Steve Buscemi,Scarlett Johansson and Thora Birch,who you may rember as Jane Burnham in the hit 1999 movie "American Beauty".The film opens as Enid(Birch) and Rebecca(Johansson) sit uncomfortably at their high school graduation.
It quickly becomes apparent that both are social outcast.The two find themselves at a 50's style resteraunt where Enid reads a personal ad about a desperate man looking for a woman he briefly met at an airport.
The two decide to play a practical joke and call pretending to be the woman from the airport setting a meeting place at the 50's diner.Seymore(Buscemi),a middle aged geeky record collecter,shows up.
The girls watch from across a booth,where as Rebecca finds it amusing,Enid begins to feel sorry for Seymore.And so kicks off a wild summer of events as the characters grow and evolve.Enid and Rebecca mature,Rebbca abandons Enid as her life begins to fall apart untill she almost can't bare it.
Ghost World is a wonderful film and one of the better comic book adaptations of all time. While watching I couldn't help but notice just how good Thora and Scarlett are at playing droll,they are so good in fact that I hope they don't get typecast in that role.
Steve Buscemi delivers his best performance since Fargo and Illeana Douglas plays a small but entertaining role as Enid's art teacher.Ghost World walks a very fine line between unbareable depressiveness and overwhelming sweetness.
Each scene never goes for more than it should,and for that I say this is a defiant See It!
This review of Ghost World (2001) was written by Ryan O on 19 Mar 2010.
Ghost World has generally received very positive reviews.
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