User Reviews

When I was young, I was too sure of my pop culture loves to ever find love. Or maybe I was just doing things the right way, because my life turned out great. I claimed I'd never be with someone who listened to modern country or pop punk or who would dare to like a movie as inept as Ghost Dad. I'm happy to report that I'm happily married to someone who checks off all of the above.

Sidney Poitier is an American treasure. This is the film that makes you question that status.

Elliot Hopper (Bill Cosby) is a workaholic widower who cares more about work than his family, forgetting his daughter Diane's (Kimberly Russell, TV's Head of the Class) birthday in his dogged pursuit of a promotion and company car. To make it up to her, he gives her his car, leading to him riding in a taxi driven by Curtis Burch, a Satanist who drives the car off a bridge into the water, killing Elliot - yes, this is a comedy - and sending his ghost back to his family.

Luckily, his three children can see him when it's totally dark. He's then pulled away to London by Sir Edith (Ian Bannen, who died in a car accident in real life), a paranormal researcher who tells him that the powers that be screwed up and he has until Thursday to save his mortal body. Hijinks ensue, with Elliot doing magic tricks with his son Danny, quitting his job and falling in love with Joan (Denise Nicholas, TV's In the Heat of the Night).

There's also the not so comedic moment of Diane slipping on roller skates that little sister Amanda left on the steps and breaking her neck. This being a family comedy, everything works out.

The writers of this film were obsessed with ghosts. Phil Alden Robinson (here under the pseudonym Chris Reese) wrote and directed Field of Dreams the year before, while S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock would go on to direct another movie that my wife loves, Heart and Souls.

It's kind of hard to watch anything with Bill Cosby in it after the revelations of the last few years. At least this isn't Leonard Part 6.

I believe that this is the film that the video store customer returned, claiming "I just love Bill Cosby pictures" before she was beaten to death by a huge leg of some animal from her refrigerator by Kathleen Turner in "Serial Mom". It was director John Waters' slam on the Coz's film career, unsuccessful in spite of his long running situation comedy. As directed by his old pal Sidney Poitier whom he started with in some successful '70s action comedies, this had several things going for it even though it didn't deliver as a big screen comedy. It was a big disaster so I wasn't really expecting to laugh or like anything about it. In fact, I didn't think that I'd even make it half an hour into the film. But the film got my attention with its suspense of how his character of the neglectful widowed father would die, and the first 20 minutes of the movie had me hooked.

If this film had been made in the '60s or '70s, it obviously would have starred Jerry Lewis. That occurred to me with some of the antics that Cosby does, his schtick always having been Jerry Lewis like with funny faces and comical voices, but where the humor comes from is from the situations, not from the mind of a show-off. That kind of comedy can only make people laugh so much which is why I suppose his films did not do well because it was him dominating every moment, not sharing with an ensemble which was the reason for his success on TV.

Is this film really as bad as it is said to be? In my opinion, not really, but it certainly isn't original. The idea of a ghost having something they need to finish in their life has been done on screen since the days of the silent era. Ian Bannen is his sophisticated after life rep, Sir Edith Moser, a joke that is funny the first 10 times but gets tired after a while. For some reason, his kids are able to see their dead dad in all sorts of wacky ways, trying to wrap up there relationship and leave everybody at peace. There are certain ways of interesting, well intended ideas, but they are not executed in a way that works. "Beetlejuice" this isn't. It's a missed opportunity that suffers from a weak script and probably far too much sentiment.v.

SPOILERS

Sidney Poitier was a big star in the sixties and played in some really important and good movies of that time like "In the Heat of the Night" and "The Defiant Ones".

"Ghost Dad" is to date his last direction and it is clear why.This movie is as empty as the head of George W. Bush.It can be forgiven because it is a fantasy comedy made for all ages but even then it isn't any good.Bill Cosby tries hard to save it but he doesn't manage.

Both Cosby and Poitier were important black persons in showbizz in their time,Poitier in the sixties and Cosby in the 80's with his legendary sitcom "The Cosby Show" about a "white" black family.

All these political and social problems are thrown overboard in this film and that's a shame cause both Cosby and Poitier are highly respected in Hollywood,maybe they could make a difference.

Anyway about the film there's not much to say except that it is your typical fantasy story about a neglecting dad who comes to his senses as the movie goes on and of course it all ends well.Pretty mediocre entertainment when you expect nothing and when you don't want to think during the picture,otherwise:don't watch it. 5/10

I used to enjoy this movie a lot because I enjoyed Bill Cosby, the doctor who helps out Bill Cosby's character, and the satanic cab driver Curtis Burch. The doctor was funny because he was a little kooky and the cab driver was funny because he was so weird and the music they chose for his theme was a good piece. The way he caused the cab to fall over because he reached over to grab Bill Cosby's character's wallet. This film used to have a certain aura that made it corny, but a great movie to watch if you were bored and needed something to pass the time and get you ready to go to bed. But I have just grown to hate this movie because it was so weak in its plot. But the biggest reason why is because the man I grew up idolizing and admiring for years was not the man I thought he was.

If you are looking for a pretty good family movie then watch Ghost Dad. Ghost Dad stars Bill Cosby. You probably will remember him from The Cosby Show. This movie came out in 1990 so it even has the tagline "America's Favorite Dad in a Spirited Comedy." You really think Bill Cosby is going to make people want to see this movie? Remember in 1986 he started in Lenoard Part 6 which currently only gets an IMDb rating of 2.2. That movie is in the bottom #100 of movies.

Ghost dad is about this widowed father who is raising 3 kids. He ends up in taxi cab with a crazy driver and eventually ends up dying. Instead of really dying now is he floating around and ends up in lab of a scientist who studies the paranormal. He asks the scientist to send him back so he can finish this business deal and make sure his kids are well taken care of.

Parts of this movie are really funny. Things like Bill Cosby's head popping out of a telephone receiver. I wasn't sure if this movie could be good. It seemed like a stupid idea. There were some small problems with this movie. There were some things that didn't seem believable. In the beginning of the movie the father could have died on a runaway elevator. Is that suppose to add something to the movie? They had to make the neighbor kid this rich snob who talks about all these great worldly possessions he has. Yeah, let's only show people who are well off in this movie.