Ghost World

Ghost World
by Terry Zwigoff

Ghost World
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $10.99
You Save: $3.99 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $2.74 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases


(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD Cover Information

Actor: Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch
Director: Terry Zwigoff
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-02-05
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

Movie Reviews of Ghost World

Movie Review: The hollow women
Summary: 5 Stars

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 slightest connection with others, thus a friendship by default.

Cynical and world-weary even as a recent graduate from high school, Enid finally finds a job in a movie theater doling out snacks to wary and unwary moviegoers. Enid does not mince words and if she says, How much chemical sludge do you want on your popcorn?, you really can't blame the supervisor for firing her.

The fact that the two young women are going to get an apartment together means a job is essential. Score a negative for Enid. Rebecca is disappointed. Again Rebecca expresses disapproval of Enid's cynical nature concerning boys. None is any good! The viewer can watch Rebecca's slow, yet discernible twist away from her best friend in this significant summer of growth. Change is inevitable, life is inexorable.

The second weak link of summer is Enid's art class which she must pass to keep her diploma. The art teacher is a pseudo-hippy, quarking out artisms, not to impress, but because she is a product of this Ghost World. What has meaning? Art? What kind of art?

Two oddities stream out of this segment: the poster Enid submits to make a statement and the art that is real, Enid's notebook of art created because she really is talented.

The poster unifies the film in that it is the possession of Seymour (Steve Buscemi), an older version of Enid, disillusioned, unsettled with the world at large, and a citizen in the world of his own making. Seymour is Enid's hero and she unlikely bonds with him mentally and physically.

Sleepwalk. The major characters sleepwalk through their lives, until Rebecca wakes up to self in the grand way that recent graduates can do. Enid becomes more entrenched in her self-imposed isolation in this Ghost World. It's not a happy film, but then life does not always offer happiness. Take it the way you find it or change it. That's what Enid does. (Intentional ambiguity)

Summary of Ghost World

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.
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

Art House & International DVD Video

DVD Video
Movies most talked about in Things that make my world better
Where the Wild Things Are ImageWhere the Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS; Harper Collins; Published: 1988-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.96
Price in other shops: $17.95
National Audubon Society Regional Guide to New England (National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England) ImageNational Audubon Society Regional Guide to New England (National Audubon Society Field Guide to New England)
by NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY
Knopf; Published: 1998-05-26; Turtleback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $19.95
Scharffen Berger Bittersweet 70% Cacao Chocolate Baking Bar 9.7oz. ImageScharffen Berger Bittersweet 70% Cacao Chocolate Baking Bar 9.7oz.
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Inc.; Scharffen Berger; Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Inc.; Misc.; Grocery
Best price: $10.99
Stila Convertible Color For Lips And Cheeks .15 oz (4.25 g) ImageStila Convertible Color For Lips And Cheeks .15 oz (4.25 g)
Stila Corp; Stila; Beauty
Mental Floss ImageMental Floss
Mental Floss Llc; Mental Floss Llc; Magazine; Magazine
Best price: $21.97
Price in other shops: $29.94
Skins - Vol. 1 ImageSkins - Vol. 1
Release date: 2009-01-13; DVD
Best price: $29.99
Price in other shops: $39.98
Hair ImageHair
Release date: 1999-04-27; DVD
Best price: $5.90
Price in other shops: $14.98
Our Town (1940) ImageOur Town (1940)
Release date: 2007-10-14; DVD
Best price: $14.95
Of Mice & Men ImageOf Mice & Men
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2003-03-04; DVD
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops: $19.98
Chaplin ImageChaplin
Release date: 1998-05-20; DVD
Best price: $33.96
Similar DVD Movies
Being John Malkovich ImageBeing John Malkovich
CUSACK,JOHN; Release date: 2002-11-05; DVD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $14.98
Art School Confidential ImageArt School Confidential
Sony; Release date: 2006-10-10; DVD
Best price: $4.85
Price in other shops: $14.94
Happiness ImageHappiness
HAPPINESS (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 1999-04-27; DVD
Best price: $7.41
Price in other shops: $14.98
Crumb (Special Edition) ImageCrumb (Special Edition)
Sony; Release date: 2006-04-25; DVD
Best price: $7.64
Price in other shops: $14.94
Lost in Translation ImageLost in Translation
Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $12.98
Rushmore ImageRushmore
MURRAY,BILL; Release date: 1999-06-29; DVD
Best price: $5.31
Price in other shops: $14.99
The Virgin Suicides ImageThe Virgin Suicides
WOODS,JAMES; Release date: 2000-12-19; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $9.98
Welcome to the Dollhouse ImageWelcome to the Dollhouse
Release date: 1999-08-03; DVD
Best price: $13.49
Price in other shops: $24.96
American Splendor ImageAmerican Splendor
Warner Brothers; Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $2.40
Price in other shops: $14.98
Ghost World ImageGhost World
by Daniel Clowes
Fantagraphics Books; Published: 2001-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.26
Price in other shops: $11.95
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners