Ghost (1990)

Ghost was a tremendously successful film when it came out in 1990, so ubiquitous and popular that even at age 10 I was well aware of the film and in broad outline what it was about. Of course the famed "pottery scene" is legendary and I remember seeing it spoofed in one of the Naked Gun movies. Still I made no particular effort to see the film until it came up in a recent conversation with a friend of mine who mentioned that he thought it had some interesting things to say in the realm of metaphysics. So I watched Ghost and thought it was pretty good.

The story is of the unrequired love between a recently murdered banker (Patrick Swayze) and his artist girlfriend (Demi Moore), who now may be in danger from (25 year old spoiler) the bankers best friend (Tony Goldwyn) who was responsible for Swayze's murder. Being a ghost there's not much Swayze can do about this until he discovers the ability to communicate with a con woman psychic (Whoopi Goldberg, who won a supporting actress Oscar for this role) who turns out to be actually a little psychic after all. Sure the plot is cloying but its likable, and with a surprisingly intense climax.

I to liked this movies depiction of the afterlife, it didn't feel dated (as often happens with cinematic portals of the hereafter) but was a rather timeless take, and one fairly compatible with Mormon conceptions of the great beyond, which I think is part of what my friend liked about it. Vincent Schiavelli's "Subway Ghost" is quite the interesting and ambiguous character. I can see how Ghost was so popular, it has a little something for everybody and was smarter and more insightful then I had anticipated. ***1/2