Christopher Landon has already made a name for himself in the tricky realm of horror comedy. His latest movie, Netflix’sWe Have A Ghost, leans more toward the latter than the latter, but still incorporates enough horror themes to fit in the former as well. There are a lot of fun elements here that support a fairly heartwarming story, but there’s also too much going on that leavesWe Have A Ghostfeeling bloated and badly in need of some trimming.
Clocking in at just over two hours,We Have a Ghostoften feels like it’s trying a little too hard to tie together its main plot and its many subplots. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of meaningful character development, as even the main cast feels as wistful and transparent as the film’s titular specter.
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The main story revolves around the Presley family, mainly the youngest son Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), who seems to have a lot of friction with his father, Frank (Current MCU Captain America Anthony Mackie). When Kevin discovers the unspeaking ghost of a middle-aged man haunting the attic (played with silent movie-style exaggeration by David Harbour), his reaction is not terror, but rather laughing and filming the ghost (named Ernest for the name on his bowling shirt) with his phone.
Eventually, Frank discovers the video, and again instead of being terrified, sees this as a golden opportunity to make some money. Ernest quickly goes viral, drawing the attention of large crowds of admirers, as well as a disgraced ghost hunter (Army of the Dead’s Tig Notaro) who desperately wants to return to her former glory. That would almost be enough to tell a complete story, but on top of all of this is the lingering mystery of Ernest’s identity, life, and death.
Needless to say, there’s a lot of plot in this movie, andWe Have a Ghostdoesn’t always do a graceful job of keeping all of its plates spinning. Among the different threads is a minor subplot involving a television medium played byJennifer Coolidge (Who most recently shone in season two ofThe White Lotus). Even though Coolidge is a lot of fun in her limited screen time, the entirety of her role feels unnecessary, as it neither moves the plot forward or reveals any new details about Ernest or anyone else. Eventually, the movie even moves out of the haunted house and suddenly becomes a road trip movie (but with a ghost) as Kevin and neighbor Joy (Isabella Russo) try to help Ernest get closure.
Despite all of the story beats crammed into the runtime,We Have A Ghostfinds a number of ways to be both fun and touching. There are two very spirited chase scenes (one on foot, the other in a car) that provide a fun bit of action, as well as some creative uses of Ernest’s particular set of ghostly skills. David Harbour is clearly having a lot of fun in the role, and not being able to speak means he really gets to stretch his acting muscles, both metaphorically and sometimes physically.
There’s also a lot of fun to be had at how things go viral, the stages of popularity they go through, and what happens when people begin to turn against those things (even if, like some of the movie’s other elements, it’s not entirely touched on). There’s a hilarious montage of social media reactions to the first Ernest videos, and unlike other movies that have done the same thing, many of these feel likethey were actually uploaded to TikTok. The best bit is watching people attempt the Ernest challenge, which amounts to nothing more than running face first into a wall.
Underneath all of the madcap energy permeating the movie is a real beating heart. Ernest’s backstory, as it unfolds, adds a real layer of pathos to the movie, and the relationship between Frank and Kevin, though maybe not as fully explored as it could be, results in a meaningful conversation about what it means to be a parent, and how it feels to fall short in that role.
The main issue with the movie is that so many of the characters feel underdeveloped, and it makes those quieter emotional moments somewhat less meaningful. Mackie is a good actor, but he seems to be struggling with what tone to strike as Frank. Sometimes he seems like a dad who has a hard time connecting with his son, and other times he just seems like a jerk who is out to bully his own kid. There are some shades of backstory thrown in for him that suggest he’s a bit of a schemer and has had a number of failed businesses, but it’s never fully explored and resides firmly in the arena of telling and not showing.
Likewise, Kevin’s attitude toward his father isn’t properly established, and it never seems like these two ever liked each other at any point in their lives. This is supposed to be the key relationship of the movie, and yet it never feels like there’s any reason to want Fank and Kevin to connect, since they seem more like complete strangers forced to live together than a parent and child.
There are also some oddly jarring moments in the movie involving the Presleys (a Black family) and aggressive law enforcement that don’t feel entirely intentional but are hard to ignore. It’s tough to watch a cop reach for his gun as he corners Kevin in a convenience store or to seean armed SWAT team storming the Presley home, and not feel anything. YetWe Have A Ghostis either not interested in exploring the implications of these scenes, or there is no intention behind them other than moving the plot forward. Either way, it’s a sticking point that can’t help but be noticed.
Christopher Landon has had plenty of success already with his twoHappy Death Daymovies andthe body-switching slasherFreaky, butWe Have a Ghostmay end up being seen as the least of his efforts. It’s not quite as tight as those movies and doesn’t have nearly the same kind of hook as those stories. Still, for its imperfections,We Have A Ghostis a decently fun story anchored by a solid performance from Harbour. Just don’t expect this one to go viral any time soon.
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We Have A Ghost
Based on the short story by Geoff Manaugh, We Have a Ghost is a supernatural comedy film written and directed by Christopher Landon. When a family discovers they have a ghost named Ernest (David Harbour) haunting their home, they learn to live with him as they learn about his strange and mysterious past. The youngest of the family, Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), creates a youtube channel to become famous. However, the channel soon garners unwanted attention - from the CIA.
