Ghost World (2001)

Peter Bradshaw calls it one of the funniest, most lugubrious and saddest films of the year. He singles out the odd, touching love affair between Enid and the older man Seymour, played by Steve Buscemi, for particular praise.

The critic finds the film a sophisticated and original take on teen angst, praising its sharp humour, subtle observations of consumerism and characters, and strong performances, though noting it's more admirable than immediately appealing.

The critic calls the film a singularly unsettling portrait of a culture in the grip of the mediocre and a disquieting consciousness-raiser about a rapidly disintegrating world. He singles out the way it digs beneath the surface of suburban America to show Enid's acute sense of all that is wrong.

Zwigoff makes a rough transition into feature filmmaking with this bland, deliberately paced writer's picture that will likely see only mediocre art-house business. It is well-acted with strong performances from Birch and Johansson but suffers from lack of energy and flat direction.

Viewers will delight in the film's deadpan wit, softly layered details and deft portrait of suburban anomie. It adeptly evokes the unbearable dullness of being 18 and the precarious power play of female friendship, though the ending feels pat.

The critic praises the successful adaptation of the graphic novel, noting how it captures adolescent loneliness and the transition to adulthood through Enid and Rebecca's cynical worldview. The open-ended finale is singled out for evoking uncertainty and the ghostly nature of memory and loss.

The review highlights the film's success in adapting the comic's episodic rhythms and finding poignancy in outcasts' sarcasm and misanthropy. It singles out the subtle unraveling of the central friendship and the authentic portrayal of alienation amid suburban banality.

The review finds the film a satisfying dyspeptic comedy that captures the girls' surly worldview and the integrity of the outsider characters. It singles out the visually elegant yet poetically depressed urban landscape and the double-edged irony of the live-action cartoon style.

The critic praises the film as the best depiction of teenage eccentricity since Rushmore and a sharp satire of boredom and conformity. He singles out the adaptation's tighter narrative and the cast's vivid portrayal of loneliness and disaffection.

The film relishes adolescent rebellion but subjects the heroines' knee-jerk cynicism to the mundane complexities of human relationships. This sort-of love story is beautifully played and never less than strikingly original.

The critic praises the film's focus on Enid's anarchic spirit and alienation amid American urban decay, noting how it strips away illusions about loneliness and friendship. Buscemi delivers one of his finest performances as the misfit Seymour, and Thora Birch reinforces her promise as Enid.