Rated R
(for strong language and some sexual content)


Directed by Terry Zwigoff

Thora Birch - Enid
Scarlett Johansson - Becky
Steve Buscemi - Seymour

My rating: D

“You owe me 7 dollars.” Those were the words resonating in my car after I forcefully gagged and dragged my friends into the theater to see Ghost World. None of my friends heard of Ghost World, so they trusted my instinct in following me into the theater. I think that’s the very last time they will ever listen to me again.

Ghost World is exactly the type of movie that I would like – an artful and pessimistic view on teenage society. This “teen” movie did not exploit sex, did not contain another pretty face wannabe actor, and/or a hit pop single for its soundtrack. I am a huge fan of Election and Rushmore, so Ghost World was bound to speak to me as a pessimistic, anti-social teenager who also just completed High School a couple months ago. The movie’s look and feel in representing American culture was perfect with bright, superficial colors and its themes, a ghost world through materialism and idealize dreams, was right on track. It was on its way in becoming one of my favorite movies of the year. After its intriguing first half-hour, the movie just slowly collapsed in becoming completely unfocused, repetitive, and uneven.

Ghost World is an underground cult favorite comic by Daniel Clowes. It follows two outsider, anti-social teens, Enid and Rebecca, during the months after high school. After graduating high school, they plan on moving from suburbia to the city, getting jobs and sharing an apartment. They wanted to escape their pathetic little world consisting of parents, people, and most importantly structure. They hated people with plans, hence Enid and Rebecca made fun of those people. After Enid places a phony response to the personal ad of a dorky jazz freak, she finds herself falling for him. Meanwhile, Rebecca drifts toward mainstream (normal) life. The movie becomes a coming-of-age movie for misfit teens in a complicated world.

In the opening scenes, Ghost World has dark humor and satirical elements. The opening graduation scene offers a homiletic speech by a wheelchair-confined girl, to which Enid wryly comments, "I liked her better when she was an alcoholic crack addict." In subsequent early scenes, the girls rail similarly against the various components of their depressingly homogeneous environment. I was enjoying the first half-hour, because Enid and Rebecca were criticizing the world around them with snide and clever remarks. It was on its way in becoming a teenage version of Fight Club – an upside down vision of the tragic and sometime hopeless lives of teenagers. But, as the movie went on, it was slowly moving into “been there, done that” territory.

Also, the movie fell flat during many of its satirical scenes. The majority of the humor was base around making fun of mentally ill people, elderly, losers, and so on. But, Ghost World also established satirical scenes such as making fun of Blockbuster (the clerk can't tell the difference between 8 1/2 and 9 ½ Weeks) and movie theaters (butter popcorn is unhealthy; upsizing drinks; etc.). The majority of these satires were not funny at all. I had the same feeling watching these scenes as I do when I hear a joke where the punchline is just a bit too obvious. Effective satires are the ones who gently go below the surface and reveal the truth, not the ones who scream at the top of their lungs: “Look, this is called a satire.”

Ghost World still contained some clever scenes. The scenes in the convenience store were hilarious. If it was either making fun of Josh (the guy behind the counter) or the random appearance of a ninja fighting redneck, I was laughing even after the scenes were over. They may sound stereotypical and one-dimensional, but they were so effective. Also, there were many visual imageries that were boisterously entertaining. Even though everyone praised this movie, I still saw so much more potential in Ghost World.

I may dislike this movie on many levels, but I will praise one thing about it – it did have a keen understanding of adolescents and why they feel sometimes disconnected from the world. The world offers a wide range of lifestyles, yet us teens have so much trouble finding a life to follow. We all go through identity crisis and Ghost World displayed it really well. Ghost World feels very honest in dealing with alienation and being the freak in a “normal” world. But, too bad it was so tedious watching a representation of our teen society.

After hearing a very positive word-of-mouth and after reading not one negative reviews from people I have much respect for, I thought it was going to be a great indie film that I will cherish. But, I was very disappointed with the movie and I still don’t understand why people loved it so much, while I disliked it. My group of friends all hated it with a passion. As for me, I saw some redeeming factors, but not enough to recommend it. My friends and I were the only teenagers in the theater and we were the only people who barely laughed during the movie. Maybe the movie can best be related by the older generations? Or, my group was just too shallow to see this movie in a different light? Who knows…but, I tried so hard liking this movie, and my efforts were cut short because I still do not recommend this movie. The movie might just deserve another viewing by me in an attempt to understand this tale of misfit teens.


Recommended:
No