It shows surprising grace in its mix of romantic drama, fantasy and revenge thriller...

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2003)

Murdered businessman in New York City sets out in ghostly form to bring his killers to justice--and to watch out over his live-in girlfriend, who may now be in similar danger. Whoopi Goldberg won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as a not-so-fake medium who becomes Patrick Swayze's conduit to reaching lady-love Demi Moore. Whoopi is, indeed, a treasure, though Swayze is just serviceable here and Moore has to contend with a non-believing character who takes too long to come around. It might be easy for some to write this fantasy-love story off as a bloated, faded hit with a heart of F/X, but there's surprising grace and finesse in Jerry Zucker's direction. Bruce Joel Rubin also won an Oscar for his original screenplay, which has some nice twists and turns. In these hands, "Ghost" is nearly an unqualified success, neatly avoiding treacle and sap simply by combining a sly sense of humor with its romantic spirit--underscored by Maurice Jarre's music and the oldie "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers.