GHOST WORLD (2001)

 

The perfect antidote to the tiresome early-aughts teen comedy

"So what was all that about enlarged holes and tight cracks?"

 

These days, GHOST WORLD rarely gets a mention when most people discuss the best cinematic comic-book adaptations of all time. This is something of a crime, because 25 years later, it remains exactly that: a phenomenal adaptation of a highly-regarded comic series. 

 

This is somewhat understandable when you consider the fact that Daniel Clowes' critically-acclaimed 8-issue series doesn't feature superheroes in tights, but rather a pair of sardonic 18 year-old girls who have just graduated High School and who find themselves on increasingly divergent paths in their road to adulthood. The screenplay was written in a collaboration between Clowes, and director Terry Zwigoff, and while the film was a critical success, it didn't make much of an impact at the box office and remains something of a cult film. And coming in on the heels of a decade that had been filled with the likes of Trojan War (1997), Can’t Hardly Wait (1998), Cruel Intentions (1999), 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and... ugh, American Pie (1999), it's absolutely a breath of fresh, rarefied air.

 

Enid and Rebecca are best friends who have freed themselves from the shackles of High School, and are turning their minds towards adulthood with differing amounts of acceptance and trepidation. As is so often the case, despite their friendship, Enid and Rebecca find themselves drifting apart. Both of the young women are irreverent and sarcastic, sometimes caustic and cruel, but over the course of the summer their differences become ever more apparent. 

 

The rebellious, nonconformist Enid (Thora Birch) tries to dig her heels in and resist growing up and doing the sorts of things that society expects of her, to the point where she can't seem to hold down a job, and her hesitance to grow up isn't helped, at least initially, by the fact that she has to take a remedial summer art class in order to earn her diploma. Conversely, the more conventional Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), seems resigned to this fate and becomes increasingly enthusiastic about the journey towards a normal life. She finds a steady job as a barista at a coffee shop where she can earn grown-up money, and sets her sights on finding an apartment. 

 

When a prank involving a personal-ad leads them into encountering a socially-inept, middle-aged record collector named Seymour (Steve Buscemi), the rift between Enid and Rebecca is widened still further. Feeling guilty about pranking him, Enid befriends Seymour, intrigued by his own nonconformity, and decides to act as a wingman in order to get him a date, but becomes unexpectedly jealous when her efforts bear fruit. Rebecca, who considers Seymour a hopeless loser, can't understand why Enid hangs around him, and why she can't start accepting some responsibility so that they can realize their prior plans to find an apartment and move in together. Feeling increasingly ignored, she proceeds anyway, much to Enid's chagrin. 

 

As Enid continues to follow her whims, her often impulsive choices begin to weigh on Rebecca, Seymour, and even her pretentious Art teacher, and she starts to ponder her childhood fantasy of simply escaping it all by running away.

I first saw GHOST WORLD when it was initially released on home video, and fell in love with it upon first rental. I probably watched it 2-3 times between 2002-005, and eventually bought it on DVD. But despite my affection for it, and owning it, I probably haven't watched it for 2 decades. But why? Having finally sat down to watch it once again, I figured that out. 

 

I still love this film, and I love its raw, messy, imperfect and often unwise and problematic characters. I love how real they can feel, how funny they are, the weight of their emotions, and how deeply frustrating they can be when they make the wrong choices which are so obvious to the viewer, and sometimes obvious to the characters themselves. Basically, the film refuses to play it safe, and allows the characters to be and to become who they are, even when it's not remotely flattering or endearing.

 

Despite the film's wit, its charm, its eccentricity, and the excellent performances from Birch, Buscemi, and Johansson, somewhere in the back of my mind, the air of desperate melancholy that underpins the film kept me away for a long time, because aspects of that melancholy so closely echoed and still echo my own. 

 

I know the pain of the misfit, the pain of feeling like you're broken, and the pain of inexorable change. The film speaks to me on a very deep level, perhaps even more so now in my middle-age. My life has changed, and much like Enid, I eventually had to make the choice to either make an attempt to find a new life for myself, or just stand pat, and that journey has been a very bittersweet one, and I'm still not who or what I wish to be, but I haven't stopped trying. 

 

Always clever and funny, but also very sad, GHOST WORLD had remained in my heart, even though I had not watched it in 20 years, and I may love it more now than I did all of those years ago. To quote the late Roger Ebert: 

 

"I wanted to hug this movie. It takes such a risky journey and never steps wrong. It creates specific, original, believable, lovable characters, and meanders with them through their inconsolable days, never losing its sense of humor."

 

Well said, Roger.  

 

PS: Be sure to hang around for the post-credits scene.

 

Five solid stars (****). Highly recommended!