Review: Whoopi Goldberg's Tour de Farce Performance Makes 'Ghost' Worth The Revisit

Thirty years ago this month, Jerry Zucker's "Ghost" opened to mixed reviews but bonanza box office. It would go on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1990 and receive five Oscar nominations, winning two. "Ghost" was a phenomenon, and one of the must-see event movies of its time.

The calculated use of a re-recording of The Righteous Brother's song "Unchained Melody" - which, incidentally, was written for a little-seen film called "Unchained" and nominated for an Oscar for Best Song in 1955 - became a monster hit, and was nominated for a Grammy.

I have not seen this "classic" in 30 years, when I was a young 'un. I do remember thinking the film was incredibly overrated and certainly undeserving of a Best Picture Oscar nomination and the Best Original Screenplay Award. I wasn't even that happy with Whoopi Goldberg winning for Supporting Actress when she should have taken it for Lead in "The Color Purple," five years earlier.

Re-evaluating this romantic thriller, I wanted to contextualize for passage of time and evolution of special effects and try and come to the film with an open mind. I watched the new 4K remastered restoration Blu-ray (presented in 1080p) with my husband, who is a fan.

For those too young to know or too old to care, the plot involves a young couple, Sam and Molly, played by Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Sam is killed in what appears to be a botched robbery, right before Molly's eyes. Sam may be dead, but his spirit remains and he slowly puts the pieces together. solving the mystery of his own murder while simultaneously trying to look out for Molly. To help him reach her, Sam almost-randomly stumbles onto, and enlists the help of, psychic charlatan Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg).

So, in the plus column:

Swayze was at the top of his game both as a movie star (coming off the massive success of "Dirty Dancing" in 1987) and as an actor. This might be his best performance, although I am partial to the underrated "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar." I've never been a big Swayze fan, but I have to give him his props here.

As for Moore, this was her big splash. Prior to "Ghost," she was mostly known for "St. Elmo's Fire" and playing Jackie Templeton on ABC's soap, "General Hospital." Moore, in a boy cut hairdo, has an uncanny ability to cry on cue; tears just pour down at the right moments. She even had me a bit misty. The role itself is too underwritten for her to do much with it, but she is more than good.

FYI: I wasn't quite taken with either of them the first time around.

In addition, the all-too-famous sculpting love scene holds up pretty well. It's definitely sexy, although, recalling "The Naked Gun 2 �" spoof, I couldn't help but snicker a little. "Unchained Melody" is, indeed, the perfect song choice.

Super cute, young, and (we learn later) evil Tony Goldwyn, who would go on to play the president on ABC's "Scandal" among many other credits, is delightfully sly and devious here. It's a shame the script turns him into a one-dimensional villain. Now, remember this was the period where big studio films were basically shaped via marketing research screening groups asking audience members what they like and don't like (it's still done today) so, for instance, Glenn Close's character in "Fatal Attraction" must be turned into a psycho and destroyed in a heinous fashion because audience member were basically misogynist idiots who wanted their bloodlust... but I digress... not too much, though...

The visual transfer looks amazing, with only some moments where the effects look a bit cheesy, but otherwise there's a clarity that is impressive.

Finally - and what stands the test of time most - there's Whoopi Goldberg's "tour de farce" performance. I may not have loved it back then, but boy was she a joy this time around, arriving near the film's 40-minute mark and breathing much-needed vitality into what was becoming a bit of a slog. Goldberg has brilliant comic timing and really does etch a fairly three-dimensional portrait from a role that feels like it was written in standard white-male-clich�-pen-writing-sassy-black-female-character style. I am happy she won the Oscar (even though a solid argument can still be made for Lorraine Bracco's amazing turn in "Goodfellas.") "Molly, you in danger, girl," remains iconic.

Now, on to the minus column:

Bruce Joel Rubin's celebrated screenplay is just not very good (and it won the Oscar!). Filmic rules are made and broken randomly throughout; the powers that Sam has, and when and how he can use them, basically come and go to suit the plot dictates. Molly is given more than enough evidence to believe Oda Mae, and does – until she doesn't, because later we need a poignant scene where Sam must convince Molly all over again. So, her character is turned into a bit of a fool.

This was the best original screenplay of 1990? I think not. The Academy obviously got caught up in the frenzy (or the financials!). All the other screenplay nominees ("Alice," "Avalon," Green Card," and "Metropolitan") were far superior, and I'm not even including the original scripts from 1990 that were overlooked ("Longtime Companion," "The Godfather Part Three," "The Freshman," "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down").

The supernatural elements in the film are haphazard at best, and betray a way-too-facile (Catholic, really) way of seeing the afterlife. Even in 1990, it had to feel silly. The way the baddies die and then are swarmed on by black demonic things and whisked down to Hell is almost as hilarious as Sam's ascension sequence that seems to go on forever (or just long enough to mine every last teardrop).

Many sequences, especially the murder scene and the finale, are so clunkily staged it's hard to take them seriously. The confrontation where the bad guy gets it, in particular, seems designed (in that "Fatal Attraction"-audience-dictated manner noted above) to make violence-loving, revenge-seeking young males gleeful.

The audio on the Blu-ray is substandard. Yes, the music sounds great, but some dialogue scenes are unintelligible.

Finally, one of the most problematic issues I had with the film (as I did way back when) is in the last reel, where Oda Mae decides to be magnanimous and allow Sam to take over her body so he can bid Molly a proper goodbye. Instead of seeing Oda Mae, channeling Sam, touch and caress Molly – surprise! – the film defaults into comfortable territory and only Sam is visible onscreen being intimate with Molly. The creatives (and studio, I'm sure) were obviously afraid audiences would either laugh or be turned off by what could have been a truly transcendent moment. Then again, why expect anything more from one of the directors of "Airplane?"

The Special Features are truly disappointing for a 30th anniversary edition. Three are carryovers from the 2008 disc: A 13-minute Making of Featurette, where the most interesting thing learned is that Rubin got the idea for the film from "Hamlet"; a 6-minute piece, "Alchemy of a Love Scene," where pottery is discussed... ad nauseam; and a halfway decent Audio Commentary with Zucker and Rubin. The only new feature is a new 6-minute chat with Zucker, where nothing new is discussed.

I can't really recommend this new release of "Ghost," except perhaps as a filmic time capsule or to watch Whoopi Goldberg weave her magic. Some see it as a classic – my husband loved it all over again. I see it as another example of the despicable paint-by-numbers style of '80s popular filmmaking that buoyed cinema towards commerce and away from artistic expression.

"Ghost"
Blu-ray
$19.99
https://www.amazon.com/Paramount-Presents-Blu-ray-Patrick-Swayze/dp/B088T2ZZ5T/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ghost+blu&qid=1595018235&sr=8-2