Ghost 1990

Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune: The passion and poignancy of trying to communicate with the dead is well-exploited here. Moore has never been more fetching. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: What it offers, apart from the overblown special effects that seem inescapable in American movies, is an unusual and effective combination of swooning, morbid romance and screwball comedy. Read more

Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times: The movie's slogan is "Believe," not an unreasonable request. But even those who'd be happy to comply must get past Ghost's one casting jaw-dropper, a certain woolly-mindedness to its script and a production prettified to the point of stickiness. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: Ghost is one part horror picture, one part comedy, one part love story, one part murder mystery and four parts entrancing. Read more

Janet Maslin, New York Times: Ghost' is too slow moving at times, and a few of its special effects look incongruously silly, particularly those showing what happens to ghosts not as virtuous as Sam. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: There's something offensive about the movie's chintzy view of death and the way it periodically flirts with promising conceits only to back away from them in as cowardly a manner as possible. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Ghost is a dazzlingly enjoyable pop thriller. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: A comedy, romance and supernatural thriller rolled into one, Ghost is a zippy pastiche that somehow manages to seem fresh even though it's built entirely out of borrowed parts. Read more

Terrence Rafferty, New Yorker: It sounds like a horror movie, but it's a romantic fairy tale. The scariest thing about it is its shamelessness. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: Given its obviously commercial aims, Ghost is remarkably appealing on a purely personal level. It is about how you deal with death. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Contains some nice ideas, and occasionally, for whole moments at a time, succeeds in evoking the mysteries that it toys with. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Zucker dutifully pushes all the buttons -- romance, thrills, laughs, tears -- that have been pushed before by more assured hands. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: A bad movie that a lot of people will like. Read more

Time Out: The real credit for turning a minor mystic romance into one of the most enjoyable movies of the year rests on an excellent script by Bruce Joel Rubin, and on the surprisingly sure direction of Jerry Zucker. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Ghost is an odd creation -- at times nearly smothering in arty somberness, at others veering into good, wacky fun. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Surprisingly entertaining. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: The actors succeed quite nicely in unifying the movie's multiple personalities, its ricocheting screenplay. Read more