(Originally written January 14, 2007)

Usually, I walk away from a film with a strong sense of adoration or irritation. Ghost World left me a bit confused and not knowing how I felt. The first ten minutes or so were absolutely hilarious, with the sarcastic high school graduates being two lovably despicable characters. Steve Buscemi’s performance is fantastic. His character is an amusing portrait of the eccentric, yet he is never too strange to be unloved. He’s the outcast who knows far too much about music, but he’s the most genuine character in the film. The film also had quietly powerful moments with the scene in which Enid shows Seymour her illustrations being particularly poignant. It’s a friendship in which two characters who resent “99% of humanity” are able to find comfort in each other. Enid is reminiscent of Holden Caufield, obsessed with the phonies around her when she rarely takes a serious look at her own life.

Although the film had these and many more strong qualities, Ghost World feels a typical film simply drenched in eccentricities. When Buscemi’s character is shown the article on the vintage racist poster in the newspaper, it seems like a throw-away detail that, instead of contributing to what the film, attempts to manipulate us as we feel the everything-is-going-wrong dip that films often have. One of the most frustrating concepts was the bus, a bus that picks up passengers regardless of the fact that it supposedly shut down years ago. What I liked about the film was that it created its atmosphere through the exaggeration of the truth, and this element seemed to cheapen the film with a surreal, “thought-provoking” symbol. Although the cultural references were fun, it sometimes felt too knowingly cute with the brief joke about 8 ½ out of place. Overall, it’s an enjoyable film that many might be able to connect to because of the strength of the characters, but it is definitely not great.