Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas (2019 TV Movie) User Reviews

I expected stupid

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 4 December 2020]

Jess Porter (Aisha Dee) is a committed feminist and getting nowhere. She goes on a first date with Ben (Kendrick Sampson). After a great date, she dies in a car crash. Ben assumes that she is ghosting him when she doesn't reply his text. Her spiritualist roommate and best friend Kara (Kimiko Glenn) seems to be the only who can see her spirit until they run into Ben and his sister. Ben can also see her.

The title is stupid and I assumed this to be a stupid movie. The premise is a little out there but not as stupid as I expected. Even better, the characters are not stupid and the actors are endearing. The lead couple has great sweetness and I really like Kara. A spiritually inclined character is often played as clueless but she's not. That's refreshing and I also really like her. I like the premise, the characters, and the actors. The drawback is that the story has no tension. While the romance is really nice, the only drama is that one of them is dead and that's not generating any tension. It needs a hurdle or some sort of obstacle. The Big Love idea is too nebulous. It probably needs an angel to appear to Jess to explain a few things and lay out a quest. There could still be a mistaken assumption but at least, there would be an end point to the journey.

Hard to watch...

[ocisne061 · 6/10 · 10 December 2019]

...since I lost a friend who passed away in a car accident & never got to say goodbye to her. So caution to those who have recently lost a loved one. The movie is quirky but it's hard to watch...

I liked it and I did not..

[casslm · 5/10 · 25 January 2022]

It was weird, and I thought it jumped around a lot. I liked the general message of it, but I did not like that one of the other main characters ended up dying in the end too because I feel like that pushed it beyond the predictable realm. Even though the best friends were supposed to be best friends, it felt forced. Maybe because I am used to seeing Aisha on The Bold Type, so I know she can do the authentic best friend thing way better! I made it until the end, I just did not know what I was hoping for, and that was confusing.

This was my idea

[ferrellgm · 7/10 · 21 December 2019]

I thought of this October 18th, 2019. They beat me too it! Lovely movie though

Ghosting is accurate title because the storyline was dead

[lexitopham · 1/10 · 19 December 2019]

Simply abominable. To quote the movie it was almost "like having someone shove your face in your own crap". The many directions this could have taken and they chose this one. Who was the lead ? Hard to say. I honestly can never get the time back.

Light-hearted but heartfelt "Ghost World", although no Christmas classic

[VHSdynamite · 7/10 · 18 November 2021]

It's a TV movie, so I'll rate it as such. The performances were good, and I both laughed and cried a bit. The romance is cute. Perhaps a bit too light-hearted. The fast banter seems more in style with a modern sitcom.

The film references "It's a Wonderful Life" from 1946 both directly and in a character looking at life from outside. But I find "Ghosting" more of a spiritual companion to "Ghost World" (coincidentally). While "Ghost World" shows two childhood friends growing apart as young adults, "Ghosting" shows two friends staying together and keeping each other in check. Ultimately, also "Ghosting" shows the necessity of parting ways to grow. While an interesting theme, I don't see how it applies to the spirit of Christmas, and the California setting is not festive either.

All in all, I feel the story is unfocused and trying to tell too much or too little. It starts with a clear focus: Jess needs to ascend by finding true love, and Kara's her helper. But then the focus shifts to Kara's need of moving forward in life now that Jess is gone. The story tries to unite both these stories in one story that celebrates friendship, at the same time as it preaches going separate ways (!) Focusing on either Jess or Kara would make a better story, I think.

Whaaaa?!??

[christa-pelc · 4/10 · 24 December 2019]

It's a typical feel-good Christmas romance BUT with so many bizarre twists thrown in. By the end of this movie, I'm wondering who's in love with whom, and why didn't the parents have a bigger part (since the theme seemed to be about "true love". I mean, whose love is as unconditional as a parent?). Plus, the argument/conflict at the end didn't make sense - when you're friend is given a "ghosting" gift like this, are you really going to argue about stupid things???

Sharp, cute and current

[je-24772 · 9/10 · 6 December 2019]

As with any creative medium you have to contextualize it in order to appreciate it. This is a made for TV movie about Christmas from a historically poor performing network.

That said, this movie felt pretty fresh. There was real comedy happening, the characters felt thought out and responsive in a human way. As opposed to the myriad of archetypes and plot devices this relied on story and character interaction to drive it forward. It earned every scene and didn't do anything half way. The actors clearly understood the plucky tone and each one had a distinct voice.

I genuinely enjoyed this movie and feel like it will hold up for future feel good needs.

What If...

[deedee_2000-985-341635 · 7/10 · 11 December 2021]

Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas isn't your typical Christmas movie and that's a good thing. Jess finally meets a great guy, but before things can blossom, she's killed in a car accident on the way home. Normally this would be the end of our story, but what would be the fun in that?

Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas has a lot of good things going for it. The story moves along rather well, the characters are quite likable and there is noticeable chemistry between the ensemble cast. All in all, i found it to be a fun little Christmas movie, a nice change of pace.

Gave up as already seen loads of millennial, LGBT, mixed race movies this Christmas

[SunnyDaise · 3/10 · 12 December 2021]

This 2019 movie was ahead of the game, but having been overdosed on millennial, LGBT, mixed race 2020/2021 movies this Christmas, I just wanted something else. TV/FILM has a shocking tendency to ignore groups of people for ages then get obsessed with them and forget about others. There's so much more to cover to really tick the diversity boxes.

Beautiful story

[lmorgan0220 · 10/10 · 12 December 2019]

This movie is special. Reminds us to love and to be honest. I'm better for having seen it.

Wow

[injury-65447 · 1/10 · 5 February 2021]

One of the most cringe inducing movie titles I've ever seen.

Ectoplasm at Xmas

[frukuk · 2/10 · 11 December 2021]

While it has a bit more to it than the average Christmas movie, it feels rather unfocussed and lacklustre. I kept wanting to hurry it along as it lacked any dramatic tension.

I liked Aisha Dee's performance as Jess, so the real problem seems to be that the script needed much more work.

One of the worst films I have ever seen.

[lydiaking · 1/10 · 7 December 2022]

Without exaggeration, this film is terrible.

Joyless and superficial, with deeply unlikeable characters. A young woman dies in a car crash and everyone who loved her is over it two weeks later. It's an offensively weak and candy coated depiction of grief.

Kendrick Sampson and the briefly seen LisaGay Hamilton give the only remotely human performances in it, but they are deeply hampered by the dire script.

Also to add insult to injury, this is supposedly a "Christmas" movie (it's in the title!) but nothing about it has anything to do with Christmas!

As deep as a puddle. Watch literally anything else.

Feel-Good Christmas Movie of the Year

[sbarr-63696 · 10/10 · 12 December 2019]

The actors portrayed the characters so well that it is like watching your friends in real life. The writing also had a super real feel to bring these characters to life in 2019.

What an unusual movie

[beachy-38431 · 8/10 · 11 December 2019]

I rarely watch this network. But they play reruns of an old show I enjoy, saw this advertised and it looked interesting. Aisha Dee is cute, and a very good actress. She has a bright career ahead of her. Not true for the other actress, Kamiko Glenn. She talks through her nose and is hard to understand. But now for the movie. The reason it was so interesting to me is because although it was obviously meant for young people, I am not one of those. I recently found out, at a class reunion, that a girl with whom I was in love in high school, but never told, had died this past year. Even though we were not close over the past 50 years, I had not even thought of her over the years. We briefly talked a few years ago at a previous reunion. Don't misunderstand, I dearly love my wife of 53 years. But all of a sudden, I wished I had told Cindy how I felt all those many years ago. Now I can't tell her. Strange, huh? One final thought from a retired first responder. Don't text and drive.

A New Favorite

[writermeetslife · 10/10 · 14 December 2021]

Though this movie is more emotionally heavy, I genuinely enjoyed it. The core 4 in the cast all felt like real people to me, and not cardboard cut outs. The relationships had chemistry and romantic tension, too. However, I really loved the direction the movie went and it was cool to see that resolve in a way that wasn't at the expense of anyone else's representation. I was stunned by the very end, but true to form, this movie was firmly grounded in reality, despite the supernatural elements.

This will definitely be rewatched by me.

BEST FILM EVER!!!!!!

[88miles · 10/10 · 26 March 2022]

This might be the best movie I have ever seen. Deserves many Oscar awards!! Very relatable. Makes me never want to drive. I wish I could hug my schizophrenic visions. Maybe one day, I can? Looking very forward to it. They better watch out! The magic touch from the ending is coming. Beep beep!

Indubitably Best Holiday Movie Ever

[elvirammomo · 10/10 · 26 October 2020]

This is the wildest, most joyous made-for-tv holiday movie I have ever seen. No I'm not exaggerating. It's Just Like Heaven meets Ghost meets that famous Notting Hill line meets The Holiday's L.A. Santa Ana winds ambience, meets that Every 15 minutes thing we did in high school about driving and killing people. Nathan from Insecure is a delight, this is all I ever wanted for him to get a chance to do on Insecure. The entire film is full of wtf just happened moments, but the ending is actually super cute and wholesome and I'll be calling my best friend after this.

Really good holiday movie

[thgirwb · 10/10 · 21 December 2021]

I'm far from a holiday movie fan, they are usually just corny cheap cheesy ness thrown together but I really liked this movie. It was cute and had nice turns and a cool plot twist. Great ending snd worth the watch.