Ghost World (2001)

Loved it so much. Still love when Steve Buscemi yells “What are you, hypnotized? Have some more kids why dont you!”

Thora Birch was amazing in this. It's sad that she dropped off the face of the planet. She's the one who deserved the Hollywood career that the milquetoast Scarlett Johansson has had.

Is the Aimee Mann song actually featured in this movie?

R2 I think her father killed her career.

Overrated.

I liked it, too.

The kids at my daughter’s high school look like this. And, except for the green hair, they looked like that at mine.

My South Asian ex was gobsmacked during the opening as he recognized the song from his childhood.

I related so much to this movie when it came out that I went into a depression.

I still refer to awful "classic rock" bar blues bands as "Blueshammer."

It is a pretty depressing film, R9

I recently re-watched this film about a year ago and it really captures the teenage zeitgeist of the era (I graduated the same year, 2001) -- aimless teens, no cellphones, nobody is particularly interested in the internet, much less social media. Sort of the last quiet lull before cyber connectivity would change everything.

R1 Yes!! I quote that line daily. A classic! Count me as another fan of Ghost World.

R4, it's a shame her father killed her career. I wish she would stage a comeback, sans stage father, since she is certainly old enough to be independent now.

The only big gap in Birch's CV is three years. Most recently, she's been in 12 episodes of "The Walking Dead."

Mirror, Father, Mirror

R15, that's good to see that Thora's still getting work. I would love to see her as the lead in some new, interesting streaming series.

I wanted to smack the lead character in the face. She looks like she smells.

This is my all-time favorite movie. I think it's sad how the ending mirrors the stars' acting careers: Scarlett embraced the mainstream while Thora faded into obscurity.

Love this movie. Though it makes me gag every time when Thora Birch makes out with Steve Buscemi. Yes, he’s a sweet quirky guy, but damn man! Standards! Have them!

A sad film exploring soullessness in America, not sure if it translates to other cultures.

Love it. Hilarious.

Dark humor. Flawed people. I'm a fan!

Apparently, some people thought the ending -- where she rides an unmarked bus to an unknown destination -- meant Enid commits suicide. The thought never even crossed my mind...

It's exactly the same story as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but with an American setting.

Have more kids!

R18, to be fair, her character is supposed to be unlikable and judgmental.

Amiee’s voice is so lush on this song and the imagery so strong, one of her best.

12 of June, a gibbous moon

Was this the longest day?

I walk down to the bay

Jump of the dock and watch

The summer fade away

R20, I like the movie, but on one level it's a middle-aged nerd's fantasy, that the hot, quirky girl will have sex with them.

Illeana Douglas was excellent in this as was Thora Birch.

I guess I never expected Scarlett to have the enduring career (she's literally having the biggest year of her career with Avengers Endgame, Marriage Story and JoJo Rabbit).

You know the scene in the bar where Enid sets Seymour up with the lady from the Blueshammer concert, I never know what it means when she watches them together and she’s wearing these wire rimmed glasses we’ve never seen on her before which she removes in favor of her regular Buddy Holly ones.

I leave for a few years and you cunts are slipping. 31 posts and no one has mentioned that DL icon Teri Garr is in this film?

A modern classic. This thread has made me want to rewatch. I haven’t read the graphic novel it is based on but I heard the movie is better(the script was Oscar nominated). This movie and The Client should have gotten poor Brad Renfro mentioned at the Oscars.

I always wondered why Enid considered Terri Garr’s character a monster.

I love this film. It's hilarious.

It’s sort of “Welcome To The Dollhouse”-lite.

It’s funny, and you cringe, but it’s not as savage.

I always identified with the Scarlett character more, which I suppose makes me vanilla and bad.

[quote]I always identified with the Scarlett character more, which I suppose makes me vanilla and bad.

Not surprising, considering you consider it "Welcome To The Dollhouse"-lite.

Her career, sadly, got all confused & entangled with that handbag designer.

I have turned into Seymour, I always felt bad for him and wanted those girls to leave him alone

The woman that Seymour got serious with didn't seem so bad except that real estate stuff I didn't understand. She was doing a client dirty ?

R33 the film is better. I am a graphic novel fan, and Ghost World is good, but the story is a lot less narrative and the Seymore character is but a blip, and no romance.

Great film and everyone in it is great. Such a shame Thora Birch's father fucked up her career and that ScarJo got involved with Woody Allen (platonic she is much too old for him) and became such a cunt.

It's a mood.

I was just the right age to LOVE this film. Thought Thora would be a huge star. But you could see a sadness in her. Maybe she's happy getting by?

R44, I could see that. Maybe she got tired of the Hollywood movie lifestyle. She has been working since she was a kid, after all.

It's easy to say "Evil Dad" or whatever but with the Weinsteins out there, it's easy to see how Birch's career might be derailed. Was the story with the off-Broadway "Dracula" that Birch left in rehearsals?

R46 Yes, because her fucking father kept trying to take over the directing cause a great deal of friction.

She was Emmy nominated for something and she was in American Beauty.

I think the stars of Ghost World Juno and Lady Bird should do a movie together.

[Quote] Yes, because her fucking father kept trying to take over the directing cause a great deal of friction.

Her father was allowed in the rehearsal room?

ScarJo is a Basic Bitch.

Thora was exceptional; Scarlett only so-so. Also, this is the first film that I saw that brought me to love Ileana Douglas. Her other great indy performance: To Die For!!

R6 Her father IS a Harvey according to rumors....

Well, I doubt he was let direct on "The Walking Dead." What age is he now? Well into his 70s?

Her mother was in Deep Throat, too.

Diane Lane’s mother was a Playmate and Liv Tyler’s a groupie, but I wonder how many other Hollywood offspring had parents in porn?

R36 It is a lot like Welcome To The Dollhouse, but it's less a lite version and more a look at what happens when Dawn grows up and has to face reality. Dollhouse had us see events from Dawn's eyes, which made them all cruel and unfair and dramatic. Ghost World has us see events more through the eyes of Scarlett's character than the manic pixie bitch girl. It's more grown up and realistic. The parallels between the two are interesting, especially if you watch Dollhouse and then Ghost World.

Unlike Thora Birch, ScarJo has the “IT” factor

Sorry, I meant the TIT factor

As a weird, in the closet fifteen year old it was almost godsent.

Sacha, 4, and Tara, 2, had a soft porn mother in Joan Collins.

Loved this film, too. Thora was sensational. After I watched it, I was like Enid and listened to Devil Got My Woman for an hour straight.

Enid was a CUNT throughout the film. She treated everyone badly and ended up alone. No wonder you cunts relate to her.

Welcome To The Dollhouse is a harsher film, but Ghost World is, like others said "more realistic," so I connected with it more.

R54 Chris Kattan's mom was a Playmate too, and Minka Kelly's was a groupie and stripper.

[quote] Enid was a CUNT throughout the film. She treated everyone badly and ended up alone. No wonder you cunts relate to her.

C'mon now. Most DLers are the middle circle in the Venn Diagram where Enid and Seymour's personalities intersect. Get it right now.

Ugly cunt shut-ins who collect ephemera no one cares about? You’re on to something r64

[Quote] Ugly cunt shut-ins who collect ephemera no one cares about?

But you care about your collection(s). That's enough.

R20’s post brought back a funny memory. A couple of months after a friend and I saw “Ghost World” in the theater and were creeped out by Steve Buscemi making out with Thora Birch, we were watching “Trees Lounge” on VHS, and when it became obvious that Steve and Chloe Sevigny were about to kiss, we were like, “Oh, God, not this again! We’re still traumatized from last time!”

Steve Buscemi actually wasn’t bad looking back then r67

... Is that so?

In tree’s lounge r69

I respectfully disagree.

Whatever that movie at r88 is. Also Parting Glances.

R67, Steve Buscemi was an absolute lothario. A '90s Tiger Beat pin-up. How could any girl resist?

But was he in Tiger Beat's Top 25?

R74, he was ranked somewhere in between Devon Sawa and Jonathan Brandis.

Graduation scene.

The singers are dressed like the Powerpuff Girls.

No more education! It's time for celebration! Cause this is the day of our high school graduation! We stayed for the duration! Achieved matriculation! Now we're the newest members of the general population UH!

R77, that would have been rather appropriate for the times.

Seymour is sexy in a wistful, sad way. I would certainly throw him a pity fuck.

R48 Juno? 🤢

I think it was this movie that made meesa realize how much Illeana Douglas resembles Jar Jar Binks.

Ileana Douglas was the best thing in the otherwise very forgettable Stir of Echoes.

The credits at the end of "Mirror Father Mirror" are gold.

I'm surprised DL loves this film so much!

Enid is a cunt.

Naturally Datalounge commiserates with her.

Enid wasn’t a total cunt. She cared for Seymour.

R82 Fuck you. Ileana Douglas is great and she doesn't deserve your piss-poor dis.

[quote] Enid wasn’t a total cunt. She cared for Seymour.

A cunt who shows occasional flashes of humanity for an antisocial shut-in. It's DL's dream come true.

R64 Great observation! Enid and Seymour definitely intersected.

Of course the most boring bitch in this film is the one who has the biggest career.

R91 Steve Buscemi is doing just fine.

Thora seems to have worked with DL fave JJ Feild recently.

Oh and she married Neil Sedaka.

Liar

it is a fish out of water story. Enid, like Seymour does not fit in anywhere with anyone. Enid does not even fit in her BFF, they have outgrown each other and their friendship. The only thing they have in common is disdain for Melora.

What is Ileana Douglas up to these days?

R97 Doing interviews for Criterion. She interviews Jane Fonda on the recent release of Klute by Criterion.

She is also very good on TCM.

Got a real kick that Enid had a “The World of Henry Orientl” poster in her room. There are parallels between the two films.

Sorry, “The World of Henry Orient” (I need to double-check before I hit ‘Post’!)

The graphic novel it's based on is by Daniel Clowes, who did a very popular "indie" comic called Eightball during the height of the underground graphic novel / fanzine craze in the early 90's. "Ghost World" first appeared in Eightball as a serial that was updated issue to issue.

Seeing it in Eighball for the first time, I remember I immediately thought it seemed different than the dark, surreal stuff in Clowes did. Almost like a teen soap opera, and I honestly didn't like it.

When Hollywood made a movie based on "Ghost World," it was surreal and kind of shocking that would happen. But in the 90's all of underground culture was getting raided by mainstream corporate entertainment so it just seemed like business as usual. I saw the film and hated it. All the best scenes were just lifted directly from the frames of the comic, and some of Clowes' other comic characters were thrown in at random. Although Clowes did work on the film and screenplay, so there's that.

Years alter I saw it again and it's actually a good film! My extreme fandom of the original comic sort of blinded me to it's good qualities.

There's another film done later that's very funny also based on a Clowes comic, called ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL. It was clearly bankrolled after the success of GHOST WORLD.

Is it true he has Enid fighting dinosaurs ?

I did the opposite of you r102 and got really into Daniel Clowes after watching this film. My other favorite book of his is Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron.

The Coon's Chicken bit was hilarious satire.

R97 Last time I saw Ileana in a movie was the DeNiro Cape Fear. OH, also To Die For. Very underrated film; check it out if you haven't seen it. Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon...great cast. Based on the book by one of J.D. Salinger's too-young live in girlfriends. Aside: Why isn't Salinger's obsession with young girls ever addressed?

R104 I agree! I love the graphic novel series LIKE A VELVET GLOVE CAST IN IRON. I love the deformed, potato-like waitress Tina and her determined crush on Clay. I'd say someone should make a film out of that one... but I hope no one does. Stuff like that can't translate to film correctly. It's just so good as a visual graphic story.

His work in EIGHTBALL is so good. DAN PUSSEY, DEVIL DOLL, ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, etc. I love that work this good is still remembered and discovered, no matter what path leads people to it.

I liked Daniel Clowes "Devil Doll." It was inserted into one of his Eitball comic books and modeled after those little Jack Chick christian tracts from the 70's. About a teen girl who falls for Satan but is reformed, and is hilarious!

I can't find the whole thing online but here's one page.

R108 I liked his comic book "Black Hole" in the 90's.

R109 No, that's by Charles Burns. A 90's graphic comics artist similar to Clowes, in some ways more famous because he did a lot of album covers and such. His style is very similar to Daniel Clowes.

They should make a sequel.

Seymour would be dead by now.

What would happen in a sequel?

when seymour's date played "ashford and simpson's " solid as a rock" i pissed myself laughing

Thora Birch was so much better than ScarJo in this film. ScarJo is like wallpaper. Was she even acting in that movie? She seemed like she was being her bitchy boring self.

Clearly everyone thought more likeable, lively Thora would have a career.

Now and Then was a better movie.