Steve Buscemi is a national treasure; simply one of the best actors working in film today. Time and again, he is the highlight of films good ("Living in Oblivion," "Fargo"), bad ("Armageddon," "28 Days") and somewhere in between ("Con Air," "Big Daddy"). He is always a joy to watch and adds class to whatever he's in.
In "Ghost World," Buscemi gives a performance that should not be forgotten come awards season. He is miraculously good. And this time, the movie is too.
Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) are best friends, outcasts and recent high school graduates. They are bright, bored, cynical and consciously separate themselves from their peers. They hate almost everything and everyone and have little planned for the future.
For fun the girls enjoy harassing a kid named Josh (Brad Renfro). He works at a convenience store and mostly seems annoyed and not amused by them. Rebecca most likely has a crush on him, too, but neither girl is overly fond of the male gender. As Enid says at one point, most guys are "pseudo-bohemian losers."
Enid is also taking a summer art class that she must pass in order to officially graduate. Rebecca works the cash register at a coffee shop. They are supposed to move into an apartment together, but Enid has to get a job first, and she is carefully doing all that she can to put this off. This annoys the mildly ambitious Rebecca and strains their friendship.
One of Enid and Rebecca's favorite pastimes is reading the personal ads in a local weekly newspaper. One afternoon they come across a man trying to reach a blond woman he may or may not have "had a moment with." He wants to know if she felt it, too, and possibly meet her if she's single.
As a joke, Enid calls the man and leaves a message on his machine, telling him that she is the blond woman and will meet him for lunch at a ‘50s diner. The girls hide in a booth and wait for him to arrive. When he does, and they see how lonely, nerdy and pathetic he appears to be, they both feel horrible and the joke ends.
The man turns out to be Seymour (Buscemi) and he sells some of his records on Saturday's in the neighborhood. Seymour and Enid slowly become close friends. She likes hanging out with him because he is the opposite of everything she hates. He also has a phenomenal record collection and loves novelty items.
Enid is saddened by the fact that Seymour has no luck with women and never goes on dates, so she makes it her goal to find him a girlfriend. As she spends more time with him (and less with Rebecca), she starts falling in love with him.
Hysterically funny, beautifully acted and sharply written, "Ghost World" is a melancholic yet hopeful look at people most movies ignore altogether. They are outsiders and loners, and undoubtedly would be considered losers by many.
Birch ("American Beauty") and Johansson ("The Horse Whisperer") are perfectly cast. Each creates a three-dimensional, distinct character and they do an outstanding job of displaying the differences between Enid and Rebecca and, at the same time, the reasons why they are such close friends.
Though it clearly is about the girls, this is Buscemi's movie. He owns it. Don't expect to see a better performance all year. Seymour is a social misfit. He is shy, quiet, boring and homely. But Buscemi makes him more than just a loveable loser. There are a couple of scenes where Seymour literally breaks your heart. He is so fragile and lonely and kind. It's a remarkable character and Buscemi is astounding.
Director Terry Zwigoff ("Crumb") and Daniel Clowes have done a superb job of adapting the latter's cult comic book for the big screen. The movie works on multiple levels and ends up being a touching love story as well as a perceptive and truthful examination of friendship, teenage girls and loneliness.
It's a little ironic that this extremely adult film revolves around two teenage girls. "Ghost World" will probably not appeal to a mainstream youth audience. Be that as it may, enough can't be said about this wonderful film.
Grade: A
"Ghost World" opens on Fri., Aug. 17 at Landmark's Downer Theatre. Click here for showtimes.
