We almost turned this comedy ghost story off but I wanted to see how it ended, despite cringing and yawning through just about every scene. This indie comedy struck me as a director doing his utter best to be edgy and appeal to the horror film fest circuit to at least get a distribution deal. Grabbing Matthew Gray Gubler, best (only?) known for being the genius on the spectrum profiler on Criminal Minds and Kat Dennings doing her best fashion goth look, and whom I am beginning to accept is entirely one note in all of her roles and finally, Ray Wise, who shall forever be cast in cast in comedy horrors, Bates then wastes the skills of all involved on a painfully self-indulgent movie.
This movie played bingo with indie cred. It had a weird character, a prototypical hipster wearing thrift store finds and being painfully alternative, despite it only leading him back to the bedroom in his parents house. It has an abrasive bartender who says she doesn't want sex with said main character, but ends up having it with anyway. Bright colours! Weird connecting scenes where people act strange for no reason! Oddball small town characters! Wasted cameo by John Waters! Racism as humour! It felt like someone saw Odd Thomas and decided it needed to be merged with a John Waters film, but only put as much effort into it as convincing John Waters to waste his time on camera.
Plot? Kid has an ability to see ghosts, long suppressed by his blood pressure meds, actually antipsychotics. Returns home to his childhood bedroom (cute cut scene of a millennial just expecting work as exec), finds unearthed child casket in back yard and has to solve / foil haunting. In the end he finds purpose by opening a ghost investigator business. It as if Bates actually thought they might get an online TV or movie series deal. Or just a painful closure of millennial with no prospects finding his niche.
Should have turned it off.
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