Ghost World Review
by Christopher Null (cnull AT mindspring DOT com)July 23rd, 2001
GHOST WORLD
A film review by Norm Schrager
Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com
It's been seven years since director Terry Zwigoff impressed moviegoers
with his documentary Crumb, an uncomfortable look at pop comic artist R.
Crumb and his disturbing, grotesque, dysfunctional family. Zwigoff's
ability to make viewers squirm and laugh at the same time is again in
full bloom, with the fictional Ghost World, a funny, sympathetic look at
a whole new group of awkward, unhappy people.
Based on a comic/graphic novel by Daniel Clowes (who co-wrote the
screenplay adaptation with Zwigoff), Ghost World provides the
point-of-view of young Enid, just out of high school, and aimless in
both direction and identity. In the able hands of Thora Birch, who's
already suffered the ennui of suburbia in American Beauty, Enid is a
caustic, sarcastic, yet charming, sweetie. Birch is in practically
every scene of the film, and anchors it with perfect tone.
Enid pals around with best friend Rebecca (a mopy, wonderfully
understated Scarlett Johansson), wondering about their futures, and
looking for cheap thrills. Their dialogue is an exciting mix of slacker
smarts, movie fantasy, and the words of the inexperienced. Rebecca
proclaims that she wants to "fuck" the worst stand-up comic in the world
(a guy they see on TV, appearing at the "Humor Grotto"), but she wants
to "make love" to the mullet-wearing spaz working at a pathetic
50s-style diner. Zwigoff's choice of words, as well as biting settings,
give Ghost World a strange, easygoing sensibility that's tough not to
like.
As Rebecca gravitates toward the straight and narrow, Enid spends more
time with Seymour (played with appropriate shamelessness by indie hero
Steve Buscemi), a slightly pathetic record collector who's painfully
self-aware of his anti-social tendencies. In Seymour, Enid sees a soul
mate, someone else who can't figure out humanity, and may just despise
it. What Seymour doesn't know is that the pair's unlikely meeting is
the result of a heartless practical joke that Enid and Rebecca have
initially played on him.
The wonderful thing about Ghost World is that it finally provides an
original mood to the "misunderstood teen" genre. One wrong move and
Enid's just another Daria (from the animate TV series; indeed, Ghost
World is originally a comic book). Too much bitching about life, and
these characters would seem as familiar as those in other movies that
have tried to capture this tough period of a person's life (Reality
Bites, subUrbia, etc.) Instead, Zwigoff skews everything just
left-of-center, including important details in music, costumes, and even
freaky background players.
Zwigoff's total package so successfully bucks convention that when Ghost
World slides off-course or pushes a bit long, it's easily forgiven.
Soon enough, we're back in a revealing conversation between Enid and
Seymour, or in Illeana Douglas' hysterical remedial summer art class,
which Enid must pass to get the hell out of high school.
Some interesting visual references are made to the director's old
friend, R. Crumb (pale, sorry-looking mini-strip malls, a crisscross of
endless power lines), and the look of the movie is always exciting.
Zwigoff even works in blackly comic comments about the interpretation of
art, race in America, and the culture of political correctness.
In an early scene, one of the girls proclaims, "That's so bad, it's
good." The other replies, "No, that's so bad, it's gone past good, and
back to bad again." This sort of retro-retro is exactly where Terry
Zwigoff has gone, creating a mood that's so geeky, it's gone right past
hip, and back to geeky again. But it's still pretty cool.
RATING: ****
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Terry Zwigoff
Producer: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith
Writer: Daniel Clowes, Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Brad Renfro,
Illeana Douglas, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr, Stacey Travis
http://www.mgm.com/ghostworld/
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