GHOST
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: Patrick Swayze as a yuppie sort of
ghost trying to save the life of his girlfriend (Demi Moore)
with the help of a not-so-fake medium (Whoopi Goldberg).
This is a slick film with a few nice moments, but not a great
ghost story. Rating: +1.
Things were going really well for Sam Wheat (played by Patrick Swayze). He had a great new yuppie apartment reclaimed from a really ugly building. He had a live-in roommate who would have looked like Demi Moore if she would only have let her hair grow a little. She is Molly Jensen (played by Demi Moore). He had a high-paying job as some sort of funds executive at a major bank. His only problem was that he had a stupid name like "Sam Wheat." Then it all sours when he is killed by a hood on the street and has to get used to being dead. You know, it is not all pranks and chains being a ghost. First of all, there are very few people who can hear ghosts and who want to admit they can hear ghosts. Then you have a really hard time interacting with matter. Generally you go right through matter: walls, tables, doors, subway trains ... it makes no difference. Floors seem to stop you but, hey, who wants to invest in a film about a dead bank executive falling to the center of the earth, right? Anyway, there is more to Wheat's killing than meets the eye and his ghost wants to find out what it is. His first big break is finding a kooky spiritualist medium who thinks she is a fake until she starts hearing the voice of one real ghost. Oda Mae Brown (played by Whoopi Goldberg) wants nothing to do with Sam and her newly found powers.
Bruce Joel Rubin's script in the hands of Jerry Zucker (who co-wrote KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE and co-directed AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN) has some nice shifts in mood. These shifts from somber to funny have been criticized by some critics, but given the subject matter are not unbelievable until the last five minutes or so. The ending is saccharine, not unexpectedly, but up to that point the film's tone follows Wheat's emotions at being dead and, let's face it, finding yourself dead is one of life's more difficult moments. Zucker did not have many somber moments in his previous films but he handles them well. There is also a nice erotic scene with clay sculpture. There is another love scene that might have broken new ground for a major release film had Zucker not copped out (much to the indignation of the audience). There is also a rather unexpected and nice scene involving a grungy subway rider.
GHOST is not really very good as a ghost story. There is maybe one decent chilling scene in the film. Next to LADY IN WHITE or THE UNINVITED it pales considerably. But it is reasonable as a slick Hollywood production with (of course) effects by Industrial Light and Magic. I rate it a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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