Ghost Dad (1990) is a comedy film directed by Sidney Poitier and starring Bill Cosby, in which a widower's spirit is able to communicate with his children after his death. It was critically panned, and wound up on many critics' "Worst of 1990" and "Worst of all time" lists. Despite its critical failure, it was a financial success, mostly due to its low budget.
Plot
Elliott Hopper (Bill Cosby) is a workaholic widower who is about to land the deal of a lifetime at work. His busy life results in him not paying attention to his home life. Forgetting his daughter Diane's birthday, Elliott attempts to make up for his wrong doing by promising her she can have his car when he secures the deal at work on the coming Thursday, hoping in the process for a promotion and new company car. After being persuaded to give the car to his daughter early, Elliott he ends up hailing a taxi from work, which is driven by a satanist named Curtis Burch, who drives very erratically and speeds out of control. In an attempt to get the man to stop the taxi, Elliott convinces Curtis that he (Elliott) is Satan and commands him to stop the taxi. Shocked by his "Evil Master" the driver has an accident and drives off a bridge, causing he and Elliott to fall to their "deaths" below.
Elliott emerges from the accident scene however and approaching a police officer that is on the scene, quickly learns that he is in fact, a ghost. Elliott returns home and is shocked to find his three children are capable of seeing him, but only when he is in a dark room with no light. Although they are unable to hear him, they soon learn that is he is a ghost. Struggling to communicate to his family what has happened, he is suddenly whisked away to London, England, by a paranormal researcher named Edith (Ian Bannen), who tells him he is a ghost who is yet to enter the "After Life" and that he has until Thursday before his soul crosses over.
The pressure of work and helping his children with their various problems lead to a comedic series of events in which he struggles to keep his job until Thursday to ensure his family's survival without him. Eventually when faced with choosing between staying in an important work meeting and helping his son complete a magical trick at school he decides his family's happiness is more important and walks out on his furious boss, Mr Collins (Barry Corbin) who later fires him.
Dejected, Elliott reveals himself as a ghost to his love interest, Joan (Denise Nicholas) who is initially shocked, but later sympathetic to what has occurred. Edith arrives from London, extremely famished, but with the exciting news for Elliott that he is not dead, he is not a ghost and has simply jumped out of his body in fright. In the excitement to find Elliott's body and reunite his spirit with it, Diane trips on the staircase and is seriously injured. They rush her to the hospital and Elliott is confronted by Diane's spirit who takes it all very humorously, flying excitedly around the hospital ward. Elliott begs her to get back into her body telling her "life is all there is, don't waste it" as his body starts to "flicker". Diane becomes concerned as Elliott collapses on the floor in anguish and in tears, she races into the intensive care unit where she discovers her father's body. She then helps him into the room, where he learns his body had no identification on it, as the taxi driver had taken his wallet before the accident and therefore nobody knew who he was. Elliott returns to his body and wakes up, much to the relief of Diane, who also returns to her body, jumping off the operating table excitedly telling the rest of family what has happened.
Reunited again, the family are just leaving the hospital to return home when Elliott spots a yellow taxi parked outside. He discovers the satanic taxi driver Curtis Burch behind the wheel, who is delighted to see his "Evil Master" and gives Elliot his imitation Gucci wallet back. Elliott then tells the taxi driver to go to Hell and sit on red hot coals and wait for him until it snows, to which Curtis agrees enthusiastically.
Cast
Additional Voices by LaGloria Scott, Kerry Gutierrezm, Kaleena Kiff, Rocky Krakoff, Jonathan Brandis, Ryan McWhorter, Suzanne Stone, Barbara Harris, Carol King, Doris Hess, Cathy Cavadini, David McCharen, David Randolph, Greg Finley, Bryan Scott, J.D. Hall, and Joseph Chapman
Novelization
As part of the publicity for the movie, a Ghost Dad novelization written by Mel Cebulash was released the year of the film's debut.
Critical reaction
Since its release, the film has been universally ravaged by critics and has a 6% rating on movie rating website RottenTomatoes.com.[1]
Rating the movie half a star out of four, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert characterized the film thus:
Ghost Dad is a desperately unfunny film - a strained, contrived construction that left me shaking my head in amazement… How could Sidney Poitier, a skilled filmmaker with an actor's sense of timing, have been the director of this mess? How did a production executive go for it? Who ever thought this was a good idea?[2]
Box office
In the film's opening weekend, it earned $4,803,480. Domestically the film earned $24,707,633 and $714,000 at the foreign box office for a total of $25,421,633.[3]
VHS and DVD release
Ghost Dad was released on VHS by Universal Studios on March 1, 1992. The film was released on DVD by Good Times Video on May 1, 2001, and as a "Studio Selections" DVD by Universal Studios on March 1, 2005.
External links
References
