Description: Thora Birch (American Beauty) and Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation) "sneak into your heart and stay there" (Rolling Stone) in this "eerie, masterful movie" (Movieline) from the acclaimed director of Crumb. Co-starring Brad Renfro (Deuces Wild), Illeana Douglas (Stir of Echos) and Steve Buscemi (Fargo) in "the best role of his career" (Movieline), Ghost World is a "smartly strange comedy [that] stands out like the Taj Mahal" (Time)! While their classmates head for college, Enid (Birch) and Rebecca (Johansson) focus their energies on tormenting those around them - from a goofy convenience store clerk (Renfro) to an eccentric art teacher (Douglas). But when they zero in on an oddball loner (Buscemi) looking for Miss Right, their seemingly innocent meddling threatens to shatter one of their hearts not to mention their lifelong friendship.
Amazon.com: If you've ever felt alienated by the world around you, Ghost World will offer laughter, tears, and reassurance that you are definitely not alone. Adapted by Daniel Clowes and Crumb director Terry Zwigoff from Clowes's acclaimed graphic novel, the movie spends summer vacation with high school graduates Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlet Johansson). They inflict little tortures on the denizens of urban sprawl, wielding scathing irony as a defense against a "ghost world" full of pop-cultural lemmings and uncertain futures. But when Enid picks a 40-ish vintage-record collector (Steve Buscemi) as the target of her latest cruel prank, she finds herself unexpectedly attracted to him ("he's the opposite of everything I completely hate") and is forced to confront her own crushing loneliness. This combination of deadpan sarcasm and deeply compassionate humanity makes Ghost World a rare and delicate comedy, with an ambiguous ending that suggests tragedy or hope, depending on your own point of view. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Wonderful film, intelligent, surprisingly compassionate, and humanistic...
This is a great, great movie. It could have easily gone off into another variation of the typical indie film. Instead of being smug and overly quirky like many indie films can be, this film is genuine, intelligent, and humanistic as well. I atttribute this to the director, Terry Zwigoff, who directed one of my favorite documentaries, Crumb, and the two excellent leads, Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch. Buscemi here is especially good, playing a character that could have easily turned into a caricature with a lesser director and actor. Buscemi plays a lonely 42 year old bachelor who lives with ... Read More
Rating: - The hollow women
Touted as a film on "over 140 Top Ten Lists" and "Best Film of the Year," "Ghost World" really works. The fact that I had to watch it twice just to finish it doesn't mean much. I fell asleep the first time. I was tired and the movie was boring. Nix that. Because I was tired, the movie was boring.
The second time I was totally alert to this film rife with meaning. Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlet Johannson) have been friends for ten years and have that mental telepathy of friendship of the closest kind. However, their friendship is based on being outsiders and isolated from the ... Read More
Rating: - Trippy.
Ghost World could have been a lot better and more special. Thora Birch is a great actress and she's good in this unique indie film but the plot and ending leaves the audience with many unanswered questions. Steve Buscemi and Scarlett Johansson also star and the late Brad Renfro. Ghost World is based on a comic book, so expect a dark comedy. Wish I liked this film more but it is just ok for me.
Rating: - Quirky movie
Had seen this movie about halfway through on cable. Had to buy it to see the rest. Good acting, good actors/actresses, subtle story line.
Rating: - Every Cynic Is a Frustrated Romantic
"Ghost World" was the best movie I've seen in a LONG damn time. The key to a great movie is that it's its own world --
a self-contained universe. "Bringing Up Baby" is one such example, so is "Vertigo" and "For a Few Dollars More." Any of Billy Wilder's movies, too. This one was one of them.
I love Enid. A teenage H.L. Mencken, she skewers pretentious poseurs and tips over sacred cows. But, underneath her outer punk persona, there is a soft-hearted hero-worshipper. Her predicament is that she's stranded on a social desert island and uses cynicism as a shield to protect her from the hopeless ... Read More
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