Do you have a hard time dealing with people? Do you hate the phonies and losers who have taken over this country? Do stupid people make you just want to scream? You're not alone.
Ghost World is a modern coming-of-age story about two, cynical best friends who float through life after graduating high school. Enid (Thora Birch) supplies a running commentary for her life with sarcastic remarks about anyone and anything mainstream.
Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), though Enid's partner in crime, realizes that you can't live life that way. Throughout the film, they drift apart as Rebecca succumbs to the working world.
Enid, meanwhile, befriends a middle-aged "dork" named Seymour (Steve Buscemi). They both cover-up their unhappiness with caustic jokes about how much life sucks. They were practically made for each other. But Enid keeps trying to set Seymour up with women, even though it is obvious that he doesn't want to be assimilated back into what society has become.
This simple storyline may not seem intriguing at first, but it's the characters who make this movie so great. Ghost World's satirical, acerbic style will have you laughing. Characters, like the mullet-wearing hick with a wife-beater tan line and the "avant-garde" summer school art teacher, fill each scene with ironic realism.
The movie is based on Daniel Clowes' underground comic of the same name. Filled with many more side jokes and a less-structured story line, the comic is far superior to the film.
This is director Terry Zwigoff's first fiction film, coming a whole six years after the disturbingly-hilarious documentary Crumb (about comic artist R. Crumb).
While the film is hilarious and the performances are great, it comes with flaws, too. The directing style is very simplistic and thus leaves all the secondary characters to their own devices. Besides Enid and Seymour, no other characters are fully-developed and they all end up very under-used. Even Rebecca becomes marginal half-way through, which is unfortunate.
Josh (Brad Renfro), who works at the local convenience store, is Enid and Rebecca's male friend, whom they both secretly have a crush on. In the comic, his relationship with Enid is explored much more, while in the film he only appears when the two girls need a ride somewhere. It is never explained why or how they became friends with him or anything about how Josh thinks. This is surprising, since Daniel Clowes co-wrote the script. It feels like there may have been some serious editing during post-production. Oh well, those who want to see more will just have to wait for the DVD.
Ghost World is a refreshing look at the coming-of-age story, but it is something we've seen before. Welcome to the Dollhouse is a good silver-screen example. Even on television, we've had the stupidity of society pointed out to us by MTV's "Daria".
Don't get me wrong; I highly recommend the film and enjoyed watching it. It's a good change of pace after all the sub-standard fare of summer blockbusters. But the film could have been more.
Ghost World was once described as "a combination of Todd Solondz and Wes Anderson." But this film doesn't have the disturbing edge of Happiness or the deep character development of Rushmore.
Despite all these flaws, though, it's still the best film so far this year.
