Jerry Zucker knows when a serious scene needs someone funny in it. We like his willingness to take lovers seriously without sending the comedian away, though Ghost can let tenderness become too much sweetness.
Fi1m perspective
Whoopi Goldberg's fake medium, Oda Mae Brown, gives Ghost (1990) someone who can find the supernatural business inconvenient. Zucker lets her push the comedy without making the lovers look foolish. We like his judgement here, giving an actor space to be funny inside a story whose sadness he takes seriously. The romance works, although the untidy thriller attached to it can test our patience.
The spoofs he made with his brother David Zucker and Jim Abrahams depended on actors keeping straight faces while dialogue and background action supplied the jokes. Their shared directing work also included Ruthless People (1986), before Zucker made his solo debut with Ghost. Bruce Joel Rubin's screenplay gave him lovers whose feelings had to be taken seriously. Zucker gives its tenderness and fear time to register, sometimes more time than they need.
We were moved by Ghost because Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore make the lovers' longing convincing even when the supernatural explanations falter. Goldberg's appetite for attention keeps that longing from becoming oppressive, and Zucker is right not to contain her. Editor Walter Murch finds the film's most effective rhythm when her comedy interrupts the yearning. The early passages are slower to settle, and caring about the couple does not make the thriller plotting any tidier.
Zucker's judgement is less reliable when he makes everything around the lovers quite so pleasing. Adam Greenberg's soft photography helps us believe in their intimacy, but it can also make distress look too attractive. Jane Musky gives them luxurious surroundings, while Maurice Jarre's score sometimes asks for sympathy the performances have already earned. Moore's sorrow has to work against all that polish, and Zucker does not always know when to leave his actors alone.
Zucker went further into drama with the Arthurian First Knight (1995), then returned to ensemble comedy with Rat Race (2001), reuniting with Goldberg. For a place to start, we would choose Ghost, provided a little emotional insistence is not a deal-breaker. Goldberg will supply the necessary interruptions.
Biography
Jerry Zucker is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he began his career in comedy with his brother David Zucker and Jim Abrahams as part of the troupe known as Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker (ZAZ). The group performed sketches and created The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) before directing the spoof comedy Airplane! (1980).
Zucker co-directed Top Secret! (1984) and Ruthless People (1986) with the group, and co-created the television series Police Squad! (1982), which inspired the Naked Gun film series. He later directed the supernatural romance Ghost (1990) and the comedy Rat Race (2001). He has also produced films including My Best Friend's Wedding (1997).
