Ghost World (2001)

Enid and Rebecca are social outsiders who, after graduating from high school, play a mean prank on a middle-aged geek.

Director:

Terry Zwigoff

Writers:

Daniel Clowes (comic book), Daniel Clowes,

Stars:

Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 34 wins & 31 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Thora Birch	...	Enid
Scarlett Johansson	...	Rebecca
Steve Buscemi	...	Seymour
Brad Renfro	...	Josh
Illeana Douglas	...	Roberta Allsworth
Bob Balaban	...	Enid's Dad
Stacey Travis	...	Dana
Charles C. Stevenson Jr.	...	Norman
Dave Sheridan	...	Doug
Tom McGowan	...	Joe
Debra Azar	...	Melora
Brian George	...	Sidewinder Boss
Pat Healy	...	John Ellis
Honorine Bell	...	Graduation Speaker (as Rini Bell)
T.J. Thyne	...	Todd

Storyline

This is the story of Enid and Rebecca after they finish the high school. Both have problems to be related with people and they spend their time hanging around and bothering creeps. When they met Seymour who is a social outsider who loves to collect old vinyl records, the life of Enid will change forever.

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Plot Keywords:

high school | friend | art class | diner | graduation | 

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Taglines:

Accentuate the negative.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and some sexual content

Details

Country:

USA UK Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 October 2001 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Prízracný svet

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£133,188 (UK) (16 November 2001)

Gross:

$6,200,756 (USA) (1 February 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists, Granada Film Productions, Jersey Shore

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Thora Birch gained 20 pounds for the role of Enid.

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Goofs

When Enid and Rebecca are at the diner and Enid is looking through the personal ads, reading them aloud, Rebecca is playing with sugar on the table. She forms shapes in them that change unnaturally every time the camera goes back to her

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Quotes

Dana: I am so excited to see this film. Dustoff Varnya is such a brilliant director. Did you see his last film, The Flower that Drank the Moon? It was... glorious.
Seymour: I must have missed that one. Then again, what do I know? I like Laurel and Hardy movies.
Dana: Really? I never really cared for those. I mean, why does the fat one always have to be so mean to the skinny one?

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Crazy Credits

After all the credits roll, there's another take of the scene where Seymour (Steve Buscemi) gets attacked by Doug in the minimart. Only this time, Buscemi's characer easily wins the fight, choking Doug with his own weapon, and stomps out triumphantly. He finishes with a bunch of Mr. Pink type dialogue.

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Connections

Featured in The 2002 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Mister Magic"
Written by Ralph MacDonald and William Salter
Arranged by Rick Fleishman
Performed by Orange Colored Sky

User Reviews

It's not Daria, and if you don't get it, don't bitch

The first time I saw this movie I f***ing went insane! Best movie I had ever seen! I saw it on the first day of school that year, so it started me off pumped. It meant so much to me, and accentuated and made sense of many parts of my life. I cannot explain how close I am to this movie. My best fiend saw it with me too, and we have been a lot closer since then.

It was very smartly written, realistic as hell- not necessarily the actions, but the feelings behind the actions taken in this movie.

It is basically about this girl named Enid (Thora Birch) who has just graduated high school, and doesn't know where her life is going. She quickly discriminates against others, though I think that most of the time, she is justified. Enid and her friend Rebecca are spending the whole movie thinking about getting an apartment, but Enid procrastinates. She basically stops caring about anything that will help her in life, and entertains herself by hating everything that she can. This makes her depressed, and she loves it. Enid becomes involved with an older jazz/ragtime enthusiast named Seymour (Steve Buscemi) who has issues relating to others. Enid likes/ is intrigued by him, and feels that he can relate to her better than anyone else that she knows in her world. Seymour is her drug. As a drama, Ghost World was great. The first half of the movie, though, was one of the funniest, darkest setups I have ever seen. A lot of sarcastic humor that many would call ______ist, but whatever. It's got some of the best one liners I've ever heard. I will not go on and on about the ending, because other reviewers have overly voiced their 10 line opinions about how it's so good that it's gone past bad and back to good again or really "sucky and artsy". About the ending, I will say this- It is not a normal Hollywood ending. That's good. Hollywood is redundant.

"A tampon in a teacup?"

"It's my response to a women's right to choose. It's something I feel super strongly about!"