Released in 1988, it arrived at the tail end of a decade defined by the high concept blockbuster comedy, particularly with a whimsical or science-fiction bent. You can very much feel the Ghostbusters effect on High Spirits. ‘Hilarity’ ensues as O’Toole flounces around creating mischief, Guttenberg attempts to sell the beyond ridiculous, and the script and story just collapse in on themselves. High Spirits is high concept Hollywood comedy fantasy: a hard on his luck faded aristocrat (played by a sozzled-looking Peter O’Toole) decides to turn Castle Plunkett, his ancestral Irish home, into a tourist attraction for ghost hunters looking for a spooky retreat – little counting on the existence of *actual* ghosts in the form of his murdered ancestor Mary (a young and seriously miscast Daryl Hannah), who proceeds to fall in love with a henpecked visiting American tourist (played by Steve Guttenberg). READ MORE: Follow our Neil Jordan retrospective right here He remains a director developing and evolving, but this feels from the get-go like an unusual aberration. The conflagration of Irish, British and American actors, crew and production values, works to the detriment of the depth and substance we saw in Jordan’s previous films. Jordan has stated that he was locked out of the editing room on High Spirits and he has “locked in a vault” the original cut he would have released, suggesting a strong displeasure with a final product which is striking in how forgettable and rote the finished product is compared to, particularly, his last film Mona Lisa. While High Spirits is very clearly a Hollywood product in the manner none of his previous three pictures could be described, it sees for Jordan both a return to his native Ireland when it comes to location and narrative (not evidenced since Angel), plus the interest in fantasy trappings as was The Company of Wolves, even if they are wildly different approaches. You sense with High Spirits the fusion of numerous elements that have marked Jordan’s journey as a filmmaker up to this point, a journey which by now is defiantly idiosyncratic and liable to avoid pigeon-holing. High Spirits is what you might, charitably, coin – a misfire. For Neil Jordan, his fourth picture very much fits the bill. For some it comes at the end of their career. There are some good scenes in it, and Peter O'Toole probably is the one who keeps the entire thing going.There comes a point with any filmmaker, no matter how great or good, when the magic wears off and they produce something they would rather forget. Over all though a fairly enjoyable movie, though having some sexual connotations and a simulated sex scene (both of which could have been left out as they added nothing to the movie). The only other actor that comes close is Liam Neeson as Martin Brogan, one of the spirits. The other characters are a not as well developed, and do not provide as good of acting as O'Toole. Peter O'Toole is great as the owner/descendant of the castle, and provides probably the bes t acting of the movie. The plot is bumpy, with not consistent acting across the board. The rest of the movie deals with the interaction between these real ghosts and the humans within the castle. This he does, not too successfully, but in so doing, the real spooks and ghosts disapprove and decide to take matters in their own hands. The current owner (O'Toole) decides to draw attention to the castle, as it is an inn, decides to create spooks and ghosts. The story line of the movie deals with a castle, being reposed and moved to California. The movie is like I remembered, but there are some problems with it. I remember seeing this movie many years ago, and enjoyed it.
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