We Have a Ghost

So, the movies "alright".

It's competently directed, acted, and it looks decent. The issue I have is it's waaaaaay long. For what the movie was presented to be, it should've been about and hour and forty five minutes TOPS. With a running time of two hours and six minutes... the film is extremely difficult to get through.

And... the tone is all over the place. Is it a comedy? A drama? A thriller? A mystery? It tried to be all of these things. I've seen a lot of movies on Netflix like this recently. Is it a Netflix thing? Or just something Hollywood is trying on for size. Hopefully they cut the crap because it doesn't work.

The main hero, Kevin, is really likeable. And I appreciate that. Performances are good, but the jumbled mess is not the casts fault. It rests with the filmmakers. Netflix should've advertised this as more of a drama revolving around a family. There ARE funny moments, but the preview makes it seem like this will carry throughout the entirety of the movie and it doesn't.

It's average and gets a higher rating for me because I'm a fan of David Harbour.

From the well-known writer-director Christopher Landon, who has showcased films such as Freaky, Disturbia, Happy Death Day 1, Happy Death Day 2, Scouts Guide to Zombie Apocalypse, Viral, and 5 of the Paranormal Activity films under his belt, comes the supernatural thriller We Have a Ghost. He is the son of the infamous actor Michael Landon who became famous in the 70s through early 90s with Tv series such as Little House on the Prarie, Bonanza, and Highway to Heaven.

Unlike his earlier films that have more intensity and heightened elements of fear and horror, We Have a Ghost is a much more tapered-down version of his somewhat uniquely unhinged style typical with wistful turns.

The story is much similar in spirit to one of the most-known iconic films "Ghost", directed by Jerry Zucker and played by Patrick Swayze and Debbie Moore. Although Jerry Zucker's Ghost is a love story, Christopher Landons' We Have a Ghost is a story of young adults who are struggling with their identities in a brutally judgemental harsh social world, that is instantaneously connected to everyone. And such displays the disparity between the parents who were raised in a world that does not exist today and the children who grow much faster and more maturer than their parents did thus, they feel disconnected and do not understand their parents as well as their reasonings. And they are dealing with a silent Ghost in their house in their own ways.

It is very well-acted, directed, and written. It may not be everyone's cup of tea because the targeted age group is young adults and it is a film that you can be watch with the entire family.

Guess, the subject of the review should have been sufficient but these word's limit literally kills the speech. David Harbour, the HELL BOY, coming in a very light, soft, good family watch movie over the Netflix. It is not something extra ordinary, it is not something very different, you can easily guess the ending, but still worth your time. Reviewers calling it like another Casper movie, perhaps in a way true, just that no white tailed ghosts in this one.

You will enjoy it surely watching, it will not bore you, though from a very critical point, there are many flaws that could have been covered, but leave that aside, just enjoy.

From Christopher Landon, the man behind films such as Happy Death Day and Freaky, comes a funny and moving ghost story, with great cast and cool car chases as well. The story follows a family of four who moves into a new house, only to find out that it's haunted by the ghost of a guy (David Harbour) who wears a bowling shirt with the name Ernest on it. The first to come into contact with him, is the younger sensitive son, Kevin (played by Jahi Di'Allo Winston), who feels all alone and can't connect with his family, especially his father (Anthony Mackie). When Kevin sees Ernest, he bonds with him and makes it his mission to find out his story and help him cross over to the other side, but naturally it's not that simple, as the family find themselves targeted by the CIA (Tig Notaro and Steve Coulter), who want to capture Ernest and do experiments on him. Kevin teams up with the girl next door (Isabella Russo) in order to uncover the mystery behind Ernest and help him out. Even though there are so many ghost stories, this one does offer something fun and new, first of all seeing David Harbour playing a ghost (with unattractive hair cut) and not being able to say any words, is truly impressive. The rest of the cast does good job all around (too bad Jennifer Coolidge had such a short time on screen though). I especially loved a moving scene between Kevin and his father, where he becomes honest and tells him that he's proud of him. Also the visuals and soundtrack are also great. The films discusses many topics such as family, social media and the power of friendship (even with a ghost).

It's overly long and goes to some very random places narratively but We Have a Ghost is still a really fun 80s Amblin throwback that has plenty of charming moments and humour that hits more than it misses. It's definitely Christopher Landon's weakest film in a while but thankfully still isn't bad by any means.

The cast are all good in their undemanding roles that require them to go through the usual stereotypes and motions and David Harbour is obviously the standout with the hardest job. He has to be extremely innocent and emotive purely through movement and he pulls it off effortlessly.

Christopher Landon's direction is really good, the film has some fun set pieces combined with the right songs to make them even better and the overall earnesty of the film wins you over by the end. The CG isn't anything spectacular but it's convincing enough and rarely pushes its own limitations.