Dan M
Reviewer

      Richard Dreyfuss said in “Stand By Me” (1986) that “friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant.” “Ghost World” follows that idea to the edge, looks around, and jumps all the way off. It’s more than a typical Hollywood “coming of age” film. It’s a film about recognizing the limitations of the environment in which a person grows and being able to move on.
 
      The two main girls, Enid and Rebecca, are the type of girls people see as the type who sit back and fight off the world with insult and sarcasm. Enid, however, differs from Rebecca because she is far more complex than anyone else she is forced to deal with on a daily basis. Her art teacher is so encased in her world of self-expression that she fails to see the irony in Enid’s attitudes and dress, a satire of 1970’s punk rock. Her father’s relationship failures have spread beyond being able to relate to a normal human to being able to simply talk to Enid. Even Rebecca can’t see the limitations of living in an apartment and working the standard 40 hour week, whereas Enid does and rebels against it.
 
      Opening at high school graduation, the two make plans to get jobs then get an apartment together. However, like many friendships, the two begin to drift apart. As time continues and the crevice begins to widen, it becomes more and more evident that a repair is impossible. The first divide is Rebecca’s desire for a steady job (at Starbuck’s) and a regular apartment, while Enid is drifting from place to place enjoying the bliss of the lack of responsibility. She is forced into taking an art class to make up credit that she missed in high school. Her art teacher also fits into the category of those whom she is unable to relate to. Roberta, the teacher, has swallowed the political correctness philosophy and is so gone that, to her, art is no longer about what is seen, but rather what is the intention. This is Enid’s life, and as she views it, it’s ending one minute at a time.
 
     Then Seymour is introduced to the story line. A similar character to Enid in that he is far more sophisticated than any of his peers. An avid record collector of old jazz, he has sunk hermetically into his own obsession, disallowing himself to be a part of any normal relationship. He complains to Enid that he “doesn’t want to meet anyone who shares my interests. I hate my interests.” This is best shown in a party scene where Seymour, surrounded by his fellow collectors, tells Enid his troubles of relationships and the lethargy in which he lives his life.
 
     Enid embarks on a quest to find him a girlfriend, and in the process, we learn that Seymour and Enid are almost identical, too much so, that it would be impossible for them to fall in love. The audience questions why, wondering how exactly the two click so well. It becomes evident after Seymour finally does get a girlfriend. He dates a lady who is almost the complete opposite of him; she’s a business woman, trendy, and fast paced. Enid recognizes his misery, and that pulls her out of her own. It’s the perfect cure; his homeopathic remedies cure her young angst by allowing her to see that if she continues down the path of indifference, she will become Seymour.
 
     Steve Buscemi, in the role of Seymour, transforms from the hard-assed tough guy of “Reservoir Dogs” and the angry, quick-talking kidnapper of “Fargo” to a softened, disassociated man. His character is reminiscent of the uncle at Christmas who has lost his job and is slowly slipping away. His character choices have continuously gone on a trend towards this exact type of role, i.e. “Reservoir Dogs” to “Fargo” to “The Big Lebowski.”
 
     The film concludes with a definitive side-step from a normal Hollywood ending. It sends a giant middle finger to the executives who think audiences clamor for the typical, everyone’s-happy-all-ends-are-tied ending. The writers know that the depth of the duo’s problems exist far beyond a simple “miserable one day, happy the next” solution. Enid and Seymour know that the lethargy of their lives must end, and the experience of knowing each other may, in fact, be the shot of adrenaline their lives need. They now have the strength to see past the present. They now have the strength to live their lives. In the end, that ability to be able to live one’s own life, is the happiest ending.