Ghost World

If there is one thing American cinema has too much of, it's coming-of-age dramedies. At this point, you can't go to the bathroom without a new semi-autobiographical teenage quirkfest being released while you're gone.

While it is far from a great film, "Ghost World" manages to set itself apart in this genre by refusing to substitute idiosyncracies for genuine characters.

The film begins at the high school graduation of Enid Coleslaw (Thora Birch) and Rebecca Dopplemeyer (a 16-year-old Scarlett Johansson), two social outcasts happy to break free from the yoke of academia. As a practical joke, Enid answers a "Missed Connection" classified ad placed by a lonely music collector named Seymour (Steve Buscemi). Watching him from afar at the diner at which she instructed him to meet her, Enid begins to take pity on Seymour. The two soon strike up a friendship which burgeons into a crush. Meanwhile, she begins to drift away from Rebecca, who has more conformist tendencies.

What makes the movie work are its honest, real characters. Enid constantly changes her appearence; like so many teens, she can't seem to settle on an identity. Rebecca, meanwhile, is torn between her longing to be accepted and her desire to maintain her dignity.

The huge age difference between Enid and Seymour may make her attraction seem a bit ridiculous. But their bond is not as unreasonable as it sounds: have you met most male college freshmen? I wouldn't want to hang around them either.

The film is not without its faults, chief among them the mediocre acting. Birch and Johansson are very stilted at times, their inexperience showing through. Buscemi is fine, but he hasn't been given much in the script to sink his teeth into.

A few of the egregious quirks that can plague films like this do pop up as well. Why, oh why, must we be subjected to Norman, an old man who sits at a bus stop 24 hours a day? The point he illustrates--that everything but Norman is changing in Enid's life--could easily have been left unstated.

Ultimately, though, "Ghost World" succeeds in the same way that all good stories do: by connecting us with the characters and making us care about what happens to them.