We Have a Ghost
Despite coming from the director/writer who made the gory horror-comedies Happy Death Day and Freaky, this is a surprisingly sweet and earnest supernatural story that is aiming for a much younger audience and which, for better or worse, feels very much like a tribute to the Amblin movies of the 80s.
Premise: When his father Frank (Anthony Mackie) movies their family to a new town, withdrawn teenager Kevin (Jahi Winston) discovers that their house is haunted by a balding, middle-aged ghost (David Harbour), who is unable to speak and who has no memory of his former life. Dubbing the ghost ‘Ernest’, Kevin tries to uncover his past, while Frank sees Ernest as his path to fame and fortune.
Review:
I was a big fan of the Happy Death Day films and of Freaky, so when I heard that writer/director Christopher Landon had a new horror-comedy coming out, I was very excited. When I heard it was starring David Harbour and Anthony Mackie, two actors that I have a lot of time for, my expectations skyrocketed. That weight of expectation may explain why, although it’s a perfectly watchable and enjoyable movie, We Have a Ghost didn’t blow me away in the way that Christopher Landon’s earlier movies did.
Part of this may be because, for a movie that’s being marketed as a ‘horror-comedy’, it’s not that scary and it’s not that funny. There are a couple of jump scares very early on, and there’s one face-melting scene that’s enough to make the film unsuitable for younger children, but generally, this is a film that feels like it’s aimed squarely at the (older) family-friendly market. In fact, the inclusion of the face-melting scene is an odd decision, as without it, this film would probably be less scary than a Ghostbusters movie and could have brought in an even younger audience.
“…a surprisingly sentimental & uncynical supernatural coming-of-age story…”
But what made Happy Death Day and Freaky so much fun wasn’t so much their horror content (I am a self-confessed horror wuss), it was their dark sense of humour. In comparison, We Have a Ghost doesn’t have nearly the same level of humour, and although it’s mildly amusing throughout, it’s not often played for laugh-out-loud moments. The film’s funniest scene is probably the one based around Jennifer Coolidge‘s cameo as a TV medium, but outside of that, the comedy is very good-natured and low-key.
All of which is because, despite the marketing, this isn’t really a horror-comedy at all – instead, it’s a surprisingly sentimental and uncynical supernatural coming-of-age story that feels like a deliberate throwback to the Amblin-style films of the 80s. More than simply adopting the tone of those classic films, I felt that there were obvious parallels to elements from Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Ron Howard’s Splash in particular, as well as J.J. Abrams’ more recent homage Super 8. For me, this was a double-edged sword – on the one hand, it did evoke a nostalgia for an arguably forgotten style of filmmaking, but on the other hand, I often felt that I knew exactly where the film was going, because whole plot threads and character arcs seemed so familiar.
“…often feels like a greatest hits compilation of the best 80s family movies…”
Of course, I’m watching this as someone who grew up in the 80s, but other viewers without that baggage may not have the same issues, and might find the film more inventive and less predictable that I did – and I hope that is the case, as this is a well-made, enjoyable film that deserves to find an audience. It’s just for me, I spent most of the second half being reminded about other, better films that had no doubt inspired this one.
Leaving aside the fact that the plot in the second half of the film often feels like a greatest hits compilation of the best 80s family movies, the film starts strong with the kind of undercutting of tropes that we have come to expect from Christopher Landon. Newcomer Jahi Winston plays Kevin, the real lead of the movie, and his reaction to first seeing a ghost is to film it on his phone – which leads to the main plotline for the first half of the movie, centred on the family’s newfound fame when their videos of their ghost go viral. This plot thread gives Anthony Mackie plenty to do in his role as Frank, a father who is desperate for a win in life, and who sees internet fame as a way to finally turn his fortunes around.
“…David Harbour sells every moment without ever saying a word…”
But for me, the standout performance in this film is David Harbour as the ghost who Kevin dubs ‘Ernest’ because of the name on the bowling shirt that the ghost is wearing. Ernest can’t speak (other than to make ghostly moans) and so David Harbour has to convey everything through an entirely silent performance, which he does expertly. The relationship between Kevin and Ernest is the heart of the movie, and David Harbour sells every moment of it without ever saying a word.
Winston, Harbour and Mackie are undoubtedly the leads, but newcomer Isabella Russo works well with Jahi Winston as Kevin’s fellow-outcast at school. Sadly, although the always enjoyable Tig Notaro appears as a scientist obsessed with the supernatural, she doesn’t get a great deal to do in what felt like the most predictable role in the movie.
“…has some great ideas & a fantastic cast…”
Overall, We Have a Ghost is a frustrating proposition – it's not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination, and it has some great ideas and a fantastic cast. It’s just, for me, it was too derivative of those 80s films that I grew up watching, and that took me out of the movie. But hopefully, younger audiences who aren’t as familiar with those earlier films will find plenty to enjoy in this homage to the supernatural coming-of-age films of the 80s.
