A movie that can't make its mind up what to be

Rating: 6/10 (5 November 2007)

I went into watching Ghost thinking it would be just a soppy romantic fantasy drama. I was wrong. It offered so much more. Unfortunately, it failed to deliver.
I was confused by which direction the movie wanted to go. It fell between too many stools. At one point it tries to be all out, serious romance, then thriller, then fantasy comedy then slapstick comedy. It fails to nail any of these sub-genres and ends slightly messy.
For a film that tries so hard to get you to accept Swayze walking round as a ghost, it fails to convince in many other areas such as: are we really meant to believe Swayze's best friend would get him bumped off just for money? Plus, was there supposed to be mystery around who was behind his killing? Let's look at the characters we've been introduced to so far; Sam, Molly and Sam's friend....well, it doesn't exactly take Sherlock Holmes to deduce who it is! The execution of the whole plot line with Carl getting Sam killed is so poor I feel it lets the whole film down. The special effects in the film also sail close to the wind. They are particularly poor with the demons who come to take bad people down to hell. These black blobs with their wailing are more comical than frightening.
The character of Carl is a curious one indeed. Waivering between a total wimp and a would-be killer, it just becomes a muddled study of someone who never really gives much resonance his role in proceedings.
And as for some great love story? It's OK, but for more than half the film Sam can't really interact with Molly, just through Oda Mae, which is just too madcap to be taken seriously. Goldberg, as with Swayze and Moore, delivers a competent performance but no more than that.
After viewing this film I am bemused that it is held in such distinct regard some 17 years on. A decent film elevated to something it isn't and is ultimately a letdown.
Shame.