We Have A Ghost Review

Plot: After discovering that their new home is haunted by a ghost named Ernest, Kevin creates a YouTube channel and makes the ghost and his family Internet-famous. However, when Kevin and Ernest start to uncover the truth about Ernest’s past, they become a target of the CIA

Review: We Have A Ghost is the quintessential Neflix movie: a solid budget, recognizable actors in supporting roles, and some fresh-faced teen talent performing for a talented director. It also is overlong and does not seem to have any oversight on what should have been trimmed from its excessive running time. Christopher Landon’s movie is a mash-up of Ghostbusters, Harry and the Hendersons, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial with an aim at being a family friendly adventure movie but one that does not really make any inroads towards a particular audience. With a mute performance from David Harbour as Ernest, We Have A Ghost feels like five different movies pushed together, none of which are given a satisfying conclusion.

We Have A Ghost opens with a decrepit house in the Chicago area that anyone would assume is haunted. In moves the Presley family. Frank (Anthony Mackie) and his family have moved multiple times over the years due to Frank’s money-making schemes that have gone awry. While older brother Fulton (Niles Fitch) takes it in stride, his younger brother Kevin (Jahi Winston) feels distant from the rest of the clan. One night, Kevin discovers their new house is haunted by a not-so-scary spirit wearing a bowling shirt emblazoned with the name Ernest (David Harbour). The mute Ernest builds a friendship with Kevin, and the two bond despite Frank posting the supernatural video online, making the family social media celebrities. This also garners the attention of Dr. Leslie Monroe (Tig Notaro) and a covert unit of the C.I.A.

While Kevin is very protective of Ernest, who cannot remember who he is or how he died, Frank wants to capitalize on the potential to make his family a lot of money off the fame their ghost has brought them. This drives a wedge between Frank and Kevin. As Kevin investigates with neighbor and friend Joy (Isabella Russo), they uncover more about Ernest’s past and how he connects to the house the Presley’s live in. At the same time, Frank brings in famous medium Judy Romano (Jennifer Coolidge) and continues to post as much about Ernest as he can. As the film progresses, over an hour is dedicated to showing David Harbour mugging for the camera in the house, outside of the house, and in pretty much every position they can without having the actor utter any dialogue. Harbour has proven himself a very adept performer in everything from Stranger Things to even the maligned Hellboy reboot. Still, here he is reduced to a horrendous bald cap and broad facial expressions.

Anthony Mackie is given a wasted role here as the dad who struggles to connect with his son and spends more time looking at the view count on his YouTube channel than doing much else. Tig Notaro and Jahi Winston get the bulk of the screen time, and neither really has all that much to do. Winston has definte potential as an actor, but here he spends two hours making sad facial expressions and saying the word Ernest an excessive number of times. Tig Notaro, who recently played a funny supporting role in Netflix rom-com Your Place or Mine, is an odd choice for the antagonist. The famed comedian is given almost zero funny lines in the entire movie, and by the end, her character seems like a total waste.

Writer/director Christopher Landon surprised audiences with the better than expected Happy Death Day movies and the slasher-comedy Freaky. With We Have A Ghost, based on a short story by Geoff Manaugh, Landon suffers from the same problem that many Netflix filmmakers have encountered: zero oversight. Back in the studio era, directors were rarely given final cut on a film until they became tenured filmmakers. Otherwise, indie directors made whatever movie they wanted but were restricted by budget. Netflix has avoided those restraints, which would have helped a film like We Have A Ghost. Clocking in at two hours, Landon’s script feels like ideas for five disparate movies were pushed together. The tone shifts from playful and family friendly to mean, violent, and dark before including some sci-fi military elements and then circling back to a half-baked attempt at sentimentality. There is no real heart in this story as to struggles to generate any sort of genuine emotion.

With so much talent involved, including composer Bear McCreary, We Have A Ghost should have been so much better than it is. Every actor is wasted here, and Christopher Landon fails to make this story scary or funny in search of a family-friendly vibe. But, even as a family film, this movie has too many mature elements to appeal to younger viewers and is far too safe for teen audiences. At best, We Have A Ghost is a prime example of why Netflix needs to rein in their creative talent to make more cohesive and entertaining movies rather than aiming for metrics and view counts. We Have A Ghost is a forgettable and bland movie from a filmmaker and cast who deserved a lot more than this.

We Have a Ghost

NOT GOOD

4

-

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