Director: Terry Zwigoff
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlet Johansson, Brad Renfro, Daniel Graves, Illeana Douglas

- Reviewed by Linda

Finally, a well-made movie for freaks on the fringe of "normal" society! Oh. Actually, Ghost World is based on the indie comic/graphic novel of the same name, and is directed by Terry Zwigoff, who made the quite-freaky documentary Crumb (about super-freaky comic artist R. Crumb).

The story follows a sampling of suburban outcasts: Enid (Thora Birch, who won Best Actress for this role at the Seattle International Film Festival) and  her best friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), two recent high school graduates, and Seymour (Steve Buscemi), a dork that they initially meet by cruelly calling his personal ad, and spying on him as his date never shows up. Enid takes a fascination with the dorky record-collecting Seymour, until it becomes a bit of a sweet crush, despite the difference in their ages. Seymour is trying to get a life as an adult, and Enid is trying to simply start her life, and their friendship ends up helping each of them find themselves... or at least begin to.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't as sticky sweet as it sounds. The characters and script drip with irony and sarcasm, the strongest defense of those who are clever but a little weird, and are therefore outcasts from society. The performances are strong, especially by Buscemi and Birch (though side characters aren't very developed). Plus, you can see the influence of the film's comic-book source, as it "reads" like a frame-by-frame story. Overall, a pretty cool and unusual film speaking to those of us who don't quite "get" mainstream culture.

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