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This is because Enid discovers her sympathy for their victim goes deeper than she’d anticipated. Even deeper than her relationship with Rebecca. Seymour is an awkward, rumpled man with a craggy face, bad teeth and poorly developed social skills. But he’s also fiercely intelligent, and endearingly old fashioned. He’s more attractive inside than outside, which is a difficult concept for teens to grasp but Enid finds herself enthralled by it. The two outcasts discover a shared passion for antiques and old music, and despite their great age difference spend many an evening passionately discussing all such things until the wee hours. Seymour and Enid are angst ridden elitists, convinced they’re better than everyone else yet strangely unable to connect with anyone the way you’d think such superior people could.

Enid takes it upon herself to find a companion for Seymour and unwittingly ends up being a little jealous when he finally meets someone. Meanwhile, Rebecca has also moved on. Impatient with Enid’s laziness, Rebecca has found herself a job and place to live all by herself. She’s still a vapid twit, but she’s discovering that to flourish within society, one really has no choice but to be a part of it. None of this helps Enid, whose selfish, vindictive nature proves to be her undoing - and everyone else’s. Sometimes the problem with being smart is that you end up outsmarting yourself. Enid and Seymour are just victims of their own brilliance. Rebecca’s saving grace is that she’s not all that bright to begin with, and yes, she looks like Scarlett Johansson. Dumb and pretty makes friends a lot faster than smart and bitchy.

I know what you’re thinking. “Wow, Bruce. This all sounds pretty freaking depressing.” And you’re right. It is. “Ghost World” hews quite closely to the comic on which is is based, and just like the comic it is witty, intelligent, beautiful, dreary and confusing. It is also afflicted with the same propensity to outsmart itself. The main characters are surprisingly realistic and nuanced. The questions posed by the story are accessible and curiously absorbing. But the film grapples with far too many big questions to even begin offering any solutions. At the end, it feels as though a lot has happened, but nothing and nobody has really changed. And what lessons ARE learned by each character only seem to serve to entrench them deeper into their chosen rut.

But don’t worry, there’s far more to this movie than I have described, and it’s a rich experience that is well worth your time. It’s just that the ending leaves you feeling a bit shortchanged. That’s certainly not a crime, and I’m pretty sure I’ve said that about a lot of movies that leave us hanging at the end. Life doesn’t always give us answers, or solutions, so it’s not exactly unrealistic. But effective storytelling requires a beginning, a middle and an end - and the end typically ties in with the beginning if it’s to be a rewarding experience. “Ghost World” is about cynical people who are so misanthropic that they can’t see how full of opportunity their lives really are. We’ve all known people like this; too unhappy to live, to afraid to just end it all. It’s the hamster wheel from hell and once you’re on it, there’s sometimes no getting off. So...you know...don’t get on.

Maybe that’s the point of “Ghost World”. Some lives are meant to be a warning to others. Don’t believe your own hype. It’s easy to be an expert when all you have to provide is an opinion.

Message received. Mission accomplished.

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