--- title: "Ghost World: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/ghost-world/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/ghost-world" critics_score: 73 critics_reviews: 14 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Ghost World (2001): what the critics said Critics' score 73 from 14 reviews: 13 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics like Ghost World, and the praise gathers in the same places: the dryness of its comedy, its picture of suburban boredom, and the acting. Thora Birch’s Enid is singled out again and again, and Steve Buscemi’s Seymour, the older misfit she takes up with, gets almost as much attention. Several reviewers note how well Zwigoff carries the comic’s episodic rhythm onto the screen, and how the film finds real sadness under the girls’ sarcasm rather than simply letting them sneer at everyone in sight. The reservations are few and do not cluster. Sight and Sound finds the ending too neat; Empire thinks the film easier to admire than to warm to at first. The one outright dissent comes from Screen Daily, which calls the direction flat and the pace slack, while still crediting Birch and Johansson. Reviews written a decade or more later are among the warmest, and say the film has not aged. ## IndieWire — Ryan Lattanzio Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 April 2020. The critic calls it a heartbreaking, mysterious, and hilarious tribute to misfits that hasn't aged, singling out its profound look at dying friendship. [Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/watch-ghost-world-criterion-channel-stream-of-the-day-1202222314/) ## The New York Times — A. O. Scott Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 July 2001. 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. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/20/movies/film-review-teenagers-sad-world-in-a-comic-dimension.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 13 August 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. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/aug/13/1) ## Empire — Angie Errigo Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 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. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/ghost-world-review/) ## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 20 July 2001. 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. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-20-ca-24516-story.html) ## Sight and Sound — Leslie Felperin Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 December 2001. 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. [Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/1910) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 17 July 2001. 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. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/ghost-world/) ## The AV Club — Scott Tobias Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 29 March 2002. 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. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/ghost-world-1798196156) ## The New Yorker Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 30 July 2001. 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. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/08/06/misanthropes) ## Time Out — TCh Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 3 May 2011. 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. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/ghost-world) ## Variety — Ken Eisner Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 2001. Festival review. The critic praises the film's sharp, poignant and funny exploration of the transition from girlhood to adulthood, highlighting the performances of Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi and the director's eye for detail. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2001/film/awards/ghost-world-1200468688/) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 23 July 2001. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/ghost-world/406368.article) ## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 August 2001. Festival review. 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. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/ghost-world-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray) ## Paste — Natalia Keogan Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 20 July 2021. The critic praises Ghost World as a realistic coming-of-age story that subverts typical tropes by embracing cynicism, failure, and disappointment. It highlights the strong performances, particularly Thora Birch's as Enid. [Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/scarlett-johansson/ghost-world-growing-up) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/ghost-world.md