Save up to 25% on all DVD pre-orders and top-selling new releases
Ghost World DVD : The movie shifts back and forth from the course of their relationship and Enid's more-or-less aimless roaming around the city, making cynical AND paradoxically poignant observations ("The bus doesn't stop here anymore" -- "You don't know what you're talking about"). The best scenes are the ones in the remedial high school art class, where the teacher values cheesy, sophomoric political messages over artistic self-expression and skilled technique. Also, the curmudgeonly swipes at clueless elements in our society are funny because they are ubiquitous: the teenage video store clerk who's never heard of "8 1/2", the barfly who values a young, raucous pseudo-blues band more than THE REAL THING, and, toward the end, the immediate suspension of all perspective, proportion, and due process for anyone denounced as having acted in a manner interpreted (correctly or not) as racist. The problem with the film, however, is that it drags about one half to two-thirds of the way through. Delighted after 30 minutes, I was hoping it would never end; toward the end I was looking at my watch. I think the plotline, so suitable for a comic strip where it is doled out in small portions, is too flat for a continuous two-hour presentation (i.e. a movie). (Spotlight Review).
