he does not work well with others...!

Rating: 10/10 (7 May 1999)

How can you not like Beetlejuice, one of the most quotable movies ever? The characters are well-done, from Catherine O'Hara's Delia (If you don't let me GUT out this house and MAKE it my own, I will GO insane and I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME! / THIS IS MY ART AND IT IS DANGEROUS! DO YOU THINK I WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS???) to Otho to Jeffrey Jones's clueless dad to, of course, Winona Ryder's alienated but sharp Lydia (Plan to have a stroke from the amount of MSG that's in this food / ...I myself am...strange and unusual) to the concept that the ghosts have to get the PEOPLE out of their house. Ghostbusting turned on its ear. The dead are nice and harmless! The living are ruthless capitalist developer city slicker VanityFair licking fools! Death is not perceived by all the dead and the afterlife is a surreal and chaotic place where people might learn some semblance of lesson (Miss Argentina: And I'll tell you something. IF I knew then WHAT I know now, I wouldn't have had my little accident.) We learn that death is subjective - "This is what happens when you die. And THAT is what happens when he dies. And THAT is what happens when they die. It's all very personal." (Miss Argentina shrugs). Michael Keaton is rather handy with the quick wit, be it "attention, K-Mart Shoppers!" to saying he's seen The Exorcist however many times, "And it KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT!" There's so much more to say but not enough space. For one of the most charming movies with some of the best music, this is just adorable!