We Have A Ghost: In a Nutshell
A review of the Netflix movie We Have a Ghost
The coming-of-age movie genre catered to pre-teens has been quite popular for some time, with Netflix producing movie after movie with similar concepts, like The School for Good and Evil, We Can Be Heroes, etc. Most recently, Netflix has created another movie similar to these, but instead of it being a superhero movie, it’s a ghost movie: We Have a Ghost.
What exactly is We Have a Ghost about? Well, this movie starts off with a teenage boy (Kevin) who reluctantly moves into a gigantic spooky home for a cheap price, along with his parents and older brother. While settling in his room, he starts humming and Earnest, a ghost, slowly appears from the walls!
However, Kevin’s reaction isn’t the typical one seen when one sees a ghost. Instead, he takes his phone out to record Ernest, and rather than being scared, he actually laughs at Ernest’s attempt at being scary. This results in him starting a conversation with the ghost, and he finds out that Ernest cannot talk, and does not remember anything that happened to him in his previous life.
Now the two are on a mission to find the truth of what happened to Ernest. However, Kevin’s family gets in the way of this, as his dad uploads the video of Ernest, which quickly gains popularity with the public and the CIA. Now Kevin, Ernest, and his quirky neighbor Joy are on the run.
Based on this plot summar, you’re probably thinking that this is your average kid/pre-teen movie with a guy and a girl going on an adventure resulting in the two falling in love. Well, you’re not wrong. This movie has all of what is stated above along with the stereotypical ghost movie of trying to help him “cross over” to the afterlife and figure out why he has not already done so. This goal is especially important to Ernest, as he just wants to be at peace. And, Kevin wants to aid in doing so since all he wants is to see his friend be happy.
Although, something I found intriguing about this movie is that they got two famous actors to be in it. Anthony Mackie, David Harbour, and the other cast members definitely helped to improve the movie, but there is only so much an actor can do when the writing isn’t up to par.
However, it did have some good jokes every now and then, which surprised me, considering its mediocre script. Additionally, this movie has a lot of filler scenes that were completely unnecessary to the overall story. It was over 2 hours long with a lot of similar scenes filmed; especially towards the end.
For instance, a lot of the scenes that included the CIA were mainly filmed in the second half of the movie, and they just felt rushed and out of place. This movie could have drastically improved if they did things like remove the CIA as an antagonist and get rid of all the unwanted/unneeded scenes that added nothing to the plot.