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Review by Susan Granger
3½ stars out of 4
Unless you're familiar with Daniel Clowes' adult comic books, you
might think this black comedy is about the supernatural. It isn't. It's about
those plain, often-unnoticed folk who function out-of-the-mainstream. Thora
Birch ("American Beauty") stars as Enid, a recent high-school grad who's decided
to skip college, find a job and get an apartment with her best-friend, Rebecca
(Scarlett Johansson). But when she discovers she has to take a summer remedial
art course to get her diploma, Enid's plans get derailed. The chaos begins when
the girls wickedly fake a response to a personals ad and lure a lonely loser
named Seymour to a diner, thinking he's going to meet the girl of his dreams.
Since he knows he can't relate to 99% of humanity, Seymour shows no outward
indignation, sipping a vanilla milkshake, patiently waiting. Peering through
horned-rimmed glasses, utterly intrigued, Enid stalks him. "He's such a clueless
dork, he's almost cool," she muses. She discovers he's obsessed with collecting
vintage 78 rpm records and, significantly, that they have a lot in common. At
the same time, her single father decides to move his girl-friend in, her
relationship with Rebecca deteriorates, her "racist" art class project turns
into a local scandal, and she's deeply conflicted about her strange feelings for
thirtysomething Seymour. Co-written by Daniel Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff
("Crumb"), the poignant, pessimistic cynicism fairly drips off the screen as
Thora Birch glides into the kind of rebellious role that Christina Ricci has
vacated. As the hypersensitive dork, Steve Buscemi is perfect, as is Illeana
Douglas, Scarlett Johansson, Bob Balaban and Brad Renfro. On the Granger Movie
Gauge of 1 to 10, "Ghost World" is a weird, satirical 8. It's an intriguing
coming-of-age story that haunts.
Copyright © 2001 Susan Granger
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