GHOST WORLD
© 2002 MGM Home Entertainment

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GHOST WORLD

Enid and Becky could care less what others think. They have their own style and attitude about everyone and everything. The recent high school graduates love to play jokes on people, like calling a want-ad and setting up a date with a lonely stranger (Steve Buscemi in a stand-out role) only to watch him wait for the girl that never shows. Or in their spare time - which they seem to have a lot of - they like to follow people around town while making fun of them. Enid likes to draw and has an unusual knack for art which comes in handy since she has to spend her first post-graduate summer in school making up an art class she failed. As she puts it, "Just because you fail a class you have to take it over again?" Becky is the more focused of the two. She gets a job at a coffeehouse and starts looking for a place for the two to live. Since seventh grade they have been planning to move in together right after they finish school. College is not an option for either.

The girls soon find the solace they created in each other being torn apart slowly when they start drifting apart. Becky continues to try and move forward with her life, begging Enid to get a job so they can afford rent. Enid could care less about getting a job or doing much of anything except criticizing the world around her. She desperately wants things to stay the same so she isn't forced to decide who she is and want she wants. She hasn't a clue and through endless mistakes - even ones that risk her lifelong friendship with Becky - she continues to search and search with no hope in sight.

Zwigoff's beautiful composition displays a bright and colorful adaptation of the original comic book. His scenes are obscure, inventive and wonderfully shot with rampant, deep colors and picturesque lighting. Zwigoff and Clowes write rich characters that, although they seem to be on the outside, have the amazing ability to relate and mimic nearly everyone at one time or another in their lives. GHOST WORLD, ironically enough, is more of a realistic teen film than most of the ones the cinemas are being bombarded with nearly every weekend. These girls are lost and reaching, seeking and hoping to find their purpose in life... or in Enid's case looking for just enough to get by.

GHOST WORLD is itself an outsider that unfortunately didn't get the audience respect it deserved when released last year (though it was certainly one of the most critically acclaimed films). But that's what DVDs are for: a second chance in hopes of launching a film into cult status for years on down the line.

The DVD comes with deleted or alternative scenes (only four), a short behind-the-scenes featurette which would have been even greater had it been longer and discussed more of the comic book angle on the story, and a music video along with the theatrical trailer for the film.

GHOST WORLD is one of the best films of 2001 that bravely and honestly makes fun of the conventional while celebrating non-conformity. Now who can't relate to that?