Reviews & Ratings for
Ghost World More at IMDbPro »

{Deadpan} "Yeah. We graduated high school. How... totally... amazing.", 4 March 2005

Author: TheRepeatViewer from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Ghost World is a film that follows the misadventures of two young women, Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), as they navigate that rocky terrain between high school and adulthood. The movie begins with Enid and Rebecca's graduation. With this newfound freedom their sole goal is to share an apartment. Enid gets sidetracked from this journey when she stumbles upon Seymour (Steve Buscemi), an older, eccentric, record collector. Enid and Rebecca meet him after answering a personal he left in a newspaper. Seymour begins as nothing more than a playful diversion for their cruel humor, but the more Enid learns of him, the more intrigued she becomes. She finds a certain kinship in Seymour through his trials, tribulations, and general disconnection with humanity. As Enid befriends him, she and Rebecca gradually drift apart as their disparate goals and outlooks begin to manifest.

Ghost World is an important movie because it attempts to portray what so many so-called teen movies fail to. It shows the intangible complexities of finding direction and meaning in life when all the experiences that lead up to that moment of possibility are devoid of either. During high school, Rebecca and Enid, though cynical and disconnected from their peers, were sheltered from the tough choices and common struggles of adulthood. Now that school's over, they're each responsible for their own lives. This realization is something that Enid, in particular, struggles with as she watches everyone around her find their place while she clings stubbornly to her adolescent wanderings.

The movie focuses on offbeat characters that have no clear place in the world. They fall between the cracks of social acceptability. The story's backdrop is in a town being whitewashed over by encroaching franchises and ceaseless development. The town is losing its character and becoming indistinguishable from any other. Perhaps this motif underscores the struggles of Enid, Rebecca, and Seymour; because it is this very artificiality that alienates them, and therein lays the rub. Rebecca and Enid seek a place in a world they had always eschewed. Rebecca gains direction but losses the offbeat, rebelliousness that made her and Enid so close. Enid clings to her views, and by trying to understand and help Seymour, Enid is trying to validate her own individuality. Seymour is a lonely, isolated figure who is increasingly marginalized from society. Furthermore, Seymour provides Enid with the kinship she's lost with Rebecca, and that she might not find elsewhere. He is essentially a ghost in the contemporary world who clings to the fragments of a culture that is quickly fading. Enid is aware of the uncomfortable parallels between her and Seymour. By the end of the story, Enid alone must decide what to do with her life. After watching this movie again, I feel that the choice Enid makes is the only one she could've taken.

Ghost World is funny, exaggerated, caustic, insightful, and understated. Some of these qualities may seem contradictory but they serve the themes of the story well. Most striking of all is the realism shown through its portrayal of the main characters and the manner in which their problems are resolved. Ghost World is a dramedy that deals with a little-talked-about stage of life which makes it hard to easily classify and lends the film to repeat viewings. This intangibility is also what makes the movie so rewarding. Ghost World will most likely appeal only to a select few; but to those who do connect to it, this film, like a good song, is one that will have to be revisited more than once.

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