Today’s modern era of streaming platforms offers so many users the ability to watch some of their favorite movies without having to go to a theater, wait for it on cable, or buy individual DVDs. Being able to sit down and choose from a catalog of films and tv shows on a whim is a convenience many take for granted. However, with this new modern era of movie-watching, streaming services have also decided to get into movie production. One of the most notorious of this is Netflix. Now, Netflix has released some really amazing tv shows and movies- films like Marriage Story, Stranger Things, Roma, The Irishman and many more see accolades previously unheard of for streaming services. Now, with this great success comes the inevitability of failure. Netflix has a habit of throwing a ton of darts at the wall to see what sticks. 2023’s We Have a Ghost falls in the latter category.
We Have a Ghost follows the Presley family (their last name I only discovered during my research), as they buy the “Haunted House of the Neighborhood”. In it, they quickly discover it is inhabited by a ghost named Earnest, played by David Harbour. The family has mixed feelings about their new spectral friend. Son Kevin, played by Jahi Di’allo Winston, wants to befriend him, Father Frank (Anthony Mackie), wants to take advantage of his presence for fortune and fame, Wife Melanie (Erica Ash), would rather leave than stay in the home, and older son Fulton (Niles Fitch) really couldn’t care less about Earnest, he just wants to get laid.
The film started with a focus on this dynamic but quickly left it and couldn’t decide what film it wanted to be by the end of its runtime. Instead, we get an amalgamation of various genres all lumped together. We get a quirky comedy in the vein of Haunted Mansion, a satire on the influencer lifestyle, a straight up action film, a road trip comedy, a prison break film, a legitimate horror, a coming-of-age film, a Rom-Com, and a mystery movie all wrapped into one. The film struggles to pick a genre and stick with it for more than 20 minutes, which leads to a really confusing and tonally all over the place viewing experience.
The film also tries to really get us to connect with the characters right from the start, however really the only character who is worth any sort of care is Earnest. And that is being generous. The rest of the characters really leave little to be desired as it comes to likability (see Fulton’s whole motivation in the film), and I just didn’t care about them. It was also a shame to see that David Harbour was left to a non-speaking role, it seemed like a waste of his talent. The one saving grace was the cameo from Jennifer Coolidge. She was properly amazing, and she brought a lot of much needed energy to the film. If only her appearance was longer.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, We Have a Ghost fails to live up to its cast, and it seems Netflix has released another dud that should have been left in the writer’s room. It just doesn’t really do anything to stand out, and combined with a horrifically long runtime at just over 2 hours, I found myself wanting to go to sleep more than I did have moments of enjoyment in the film. If you’re looking for something to watch this week, please skip this one. Watch Bullet Train or Tick, Tick, Boom instead. You’ll actually get enjoyment out of those.
