Does Netflix own David Harbour? I mean, if Netflix said, “David, we want you to play a sleazy pedophile who looks like a cross between Ronald McDonald and a dead poodle,” how long would it take for David Harbour to get into costume? I suppose we’re lucky Netflix doesn’t abuse this relationship; David Harbour never quite looks like much, yet he always seems to play sympathetic characters just like the one in today’s film, We Have a Ghost.
Ernest (Harbour) doesn’t talk. He’s a ghost. How do we know his name? Well it’s written on his bowling shirt. I guess that’s a big clue. We don’t have a good idea on when or how he died, but he’s been haunting this same house in his bowling shirt for a while now.
Then the Presleys moved in. I was led to believe black families were more practical when it comes to spectral encounters, but the Presleys aren’t going anywhere. At first, only guitar-playing outcaste Elvis, er, Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) finds Ernest. And Ernest can’t seem to shake him. Oh, he’s tried all right, but balding middle-aged bowler is only scary to a really gentrified set of people. Pretty soon, Kevin has invited the whole fam to enjoy his ghost. Dad (Anthony Mackie) and Kevin’s older brother Fulton (Niles Fitch) decide to cash in. Proof of ghost = $$$.
Meanwhile, Kevin and his would-be GF, next-door-neighbor Joy (Isabella Russo) get into the Ernest backstory. Ernest doesn’t talk and he doesn’t remember, but darned if he isn’t sympathetic. This is some delightful acting from David Harbour. It’s a clinic in how to carry a film without a single line of 
dialogue. And for me, this is what makes We Have a Ghost a winner. I got invested initially in the ghost, but then in the plight of Kevin, who at first comes off as a standard self-absorbed teen, but is allowed to develop into a character we root for.
Anthony Mackie has been involved in a weird black-savior career arc for a several years now. He begins this particular film as a tired dad, sparks into a greedy opportunist, but damned if he doesn’t join the group in trying to find this dead white guy’s story as well. How many black savior films do you suppose they make these days? And is Anthony Mackie going to star in all of them? What’s up with that? I haven’t anything wonderful to say about the Paranormal Activity franchise that stars Christopher Landon, writer, but Christopher Landon writer/director has made number of dead/undead films I’ve enjoyed: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Happy Death Day, Freaky, and now We Have a Ghost. I doubt very seriously this talent will ever win an Oscar, but I do enjoy his films.
There once was a ghost in the attic
Who decided to be diplomatic
He played nice with the fam
To help out with his jam
Never known the undead as pragmatic
Rated PG-13, 126 Minutes
Director: Christopher Landon
Writer: Christopher Landon
Genre: Playing nice with the dead
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Ghosts
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fortune hunters
