Hello, night owls!! Now, you'd either have to be an extensive fan of obscure 80's films, the director Neil Jordan, or of Liam Neeson to know that this movie exists. I didn't even know it existed until I saw someone's upload of the entire thing in my suggestions on YouTube. And after seeing it, I could totally understand why no one would ever hear the title High Spirits and think of Steve Guttenberg and Liam Neeson.
If you think you're hallucinating seeing those two vastly different actors' names together, trust me - you aren't.
High Spirits was a film made released in 1988 by Neil Jordan, the director of The Company of Wolves and The Crying Game. Apparently Neil Jordan wanted to tap into his Irish roots for a project and he created the most bizarre fantasy/comedy I've ever seen. It's cast not only includes the aforementioned Steve Guttenberg and Liam Neeson, but also Peter O'Toole, Beverly D'Angelo, Jennifer Tilly, and the Razzie award-winning Daryl Hannah...who was nominated for another Razzie in this film.
Oh, boy.
The story originally hinges on a alcohol-loving Peter Plunkett (Peter O'Toole) saving his home Castle Plunkett from being foreclosed. How does he do this? By giving it some slight refurbishing and advertising it as a haunted castle hotel for tourists. Of course, there are no ghosts, so Peter's friends step in to act out the part. When a bunch of American tourists come and find they're being pranked, they're on the verge of leaving.
But then the real ghosts appear!
From that point on, the "save the castle" plot is practically dropped and it centers on a more romance-driven plot. Two of the tourists named Jack and Sharon (played by Guttenberg and D'Angelo), who are wrestling with their terrible marriage, find themselves caught up with the ghosts of Mary Plunkett (Hannah) and Martin Brogan (Neeson). Throughout the plot of Mary becoming mortal to satisfy Jack and Martin creepily seducing Sharon, there are comedic sequences of hauntings affecting the rest of the tourists.
Now this movie is a mess - a - big heaping pile of ideas and imagery that really should have undergone more thought and editing. I could talk about this movie and all its imperfections until my face was blue! There are also a few selects parts of this movie that do work. But I'm not going to delve into details. Instead, I will give you the bullet-point version of the things that bug me most about this movie. If you're really curious afterwards about what this movie has to offer, you can check it out yourself. So sit back and...well, try to relax as I give you the worst of High Spirits.
Worst Things about High Spirits
1. Jack/Steve Guttenberg - Why am I listing both the actor and the character at the top? Because they are both equally bad in this movie. I don't know what people saw in Guttenberg back in the 80's. I've heard he was funny...how genuinely funny he really was, I don't know. Regardless of popular opinion, I did not like him in this. The character he played probably contributes a lot to that, since Jack is a class-act asshole who cares about nothing but good looks and getting laid. What bugs me a lot about Guttenberg's performance as this jerk is that he acts as though Jack is supposed to be a nice guy. He acts like Jack is supposed to be that kind of guy you could see yourself having drinks with when really Jack is that desperate guy at the bar that's hitting on all the girls. When Mary's ghost turns from a beautiful woman and into a corpse, she begs him to keep helping her defeat the curse that holds her spirit hostage. She says that she's still the same woman inside. But the only part of her he's ever cared about is the outside and he almost doesn't help her. From start to finish, Jack is as shallow and superficial as you can get. I absolutely hated this character and I hated Guttenberg's approach to the role. He was completely wrong for the part.
2. Peter O'Toole - I saw Lawrence of Arabia when I was a teenager and I was blown away by the movie. I was also impressed with Peter O'Toole's acting. So I was shocked when I realized he was playing the driveling, drunken character of Peter Plunkett, because he was absolutely ghastly in that role! There are only a couple moments of his acting I can take somewhat seriously. But all throughout, I was stunned at his nearly expressionless face and his monotone voice that wavered between mumbling and shouting. He was rarely funny and frequently unbearable for me in this movie.
3. Tone - Like I said above, the movie starts out with the "save the castle" plot thread. It does rather well, featuring a refurbishing and testing montage set to rambling Irish music that is both charming and enjoyable. By the time the montage is over, you're thinking, "Okay! Let's see if these guys can pull this off!" Then the tourists arrive and the fake hauntings begin. After a series of hilarious sequences, the tourists realize they're being pranked and the game is up for our poor friends. Then, just as Peter Plunkett gives his sappy little "we love the place, please give us another chance" speech, you look at the time. Only about half an hour has passed on this 99 minute movie! If we're only a third of the way through, why does it feel like it's almost over? But really, that's just the cue to move on to the romantic "subplot"...and by subplot, I mean subplot that completely takes over the original story and becomes the plot. Once that happens, the tone shifts. Instead of being a straight comedy like it started out, it clunkily shifts between the two romantic entanglements and hastily thrown-in slapstick scenes. Whenever it cuts to a romantic bit (especially for Jack and Mary), it stalls the movie. And whenever it cuts to a comedic bit, it makes you think, "What? Why!?" This constantly shifting tone makes the movie feel like it's two hours...and the movie's not great enough for that to be a good thing!
4. Underdeveloped Backstory - When we first meet Jack and Sharon, we know right off the bat that their marriage has to be a mistake. They're the worst for each other. She's more mature, but she's very snippy and uncommunicative. He just wants to make love all the time. You can't imagine how or why they would they'd ever get married and if you were curious about those details...good for you. The movie fails to explain this, so we're simply thrown these two characters that are completely wrong for each other.
5. Ghost Love Terminology - One of the central focuses of the second half of this movie is about the interactions between ghosts and mortals. As you've probably guessed, the only interactions the movie chooses to focus on are sexual interactions, of course. Throughout the movie, Jack learns about what mortals can and can't do with ghosts. Here is where things get very confusing. In the movie, making love is called "tupping" by the ghosts and that is made clear enough. But then the term "scalping" or "skelping" (seriously, which is it!?) is used in reference to...some form of making out? Making love? What? You can see the effects of this "skelping" (I'm sticking with that spelling, because I'm pretty sure they don't mean scalping!) in an encounter between Jack and Mary...but it doesn't really help you understand what it is.
Those are my major nitpicks. If there are any Neeson fans reading this, perhaps you're wondering, "Well, what's he like in this movie?" I can sum up that question in four words.
Murderous, horny Irish ghost.
You're going to have to see the movie if you want specifics on that one!
~Maud,
Official Night Owl
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