Ghost World (2001)

This movie was mildly entertaining, so accordingly I gave it 6 stars or pears or whatever the hell Greg uses to rate movies. Recently I've been taking a lot of flack from the knuckleheads at IMRA (Internet Movie Raters Association) on how I rate films and DVD's. So to please the masses and not get blacklisted from yet another organization (I'm still bitter about the letter I got from the American Communist Association. Who gets blacklisted by other Commies?) I've decided to show step-by-step how I came to the exact number of points Ghost World gets.

I took 2 points away from Ghost World because of its title after I saw the film. There are no ghosts in Ghost World. Ghostbusters had both the ghosts and the busters. The movie Ghost had Patrick Swayze playing the role of a ghost. Space Ghost is a ghost from space. Ghost World, no ghost.

The premise is confusing at best, so I took 4 points. The main character Enid and her best friend Rebecca graduate high school and want to get an apartment. Along the way they are apathetic to everyone in their town and get mixed up with a lonely record collector named Seymore.

What was best was the dynamite actors and actresses. It starred Thora Birch (American Beauty) who plays the ultra moody, Buddy-Holly-glasses-wearing Enid. Enid's best friend is Rebecca, played by the ultra hottie Scarlett Johansson (Home Alone 3, like anybody saw that one). They both interact with a dude named Seymore, played by the Peter Lorre of our generation, the ultra creepy Steve Buscemi. I gave 8 points for the use of Johansson and Buscemi, but took 3 for the fact that the chicks didn't get naked and tag team on Buscemi at some point in the film. I gotta look out for my boys.

This film was originally based on the comic book Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, who also wrote the screenplay. I gave 2 points for Clowes putting down the tracing pen and writing the screenplay, but took 1 point because the comic book didn't involve any archcriminal trying to poison the city's water supply.

The DVD scored this film some bonus points. It had some behind the scenes footage and an alternate ending. I like it when DVD's go the extra mile, 3 points.

To sum it all up, that's 8 + 2 + 3 - 1 - 4 - 2 = 6.