Stream It Or Skip It?

After premiering on Freeform in 2019, Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas is now available on Netflix. This fantasy romantic comedy film stars Aisha Dee as a young woman who ends up literally ghosting a new man (Kendrick Sampson) in her life after an untimely demise. With the help of her supportive best friend (Kimiko Glenn), she tries to resolve anything holding her back in hopes of moving on to the afterlife. It’s a little silly, but it also has a lot of heart, and is definitely an original premise as far as the typical holiday fare goes.

The Gist: Jess is a Los Angeles-based young woman who’s always flitting from one thing to the next. She loves trying new things, but easily grows bored once the initial shine wears off, leaving her feeling stuck in life. Luckily, her longtime best friend, on-call energy healer and tea brewer extraordinaire Kara (Kimiko Glenn), is always at her side, supporting Jess through it all, including her recent firing from a bakery job. When sparks fly on a successful first date with artist Ben (Kendrick Sampson), Jess’s luck seems to finally turn around, as she sees in him something worth committing to. But tragically, on her way home from the date, Jess gets killed in a car accident, cutting the budding relationship off before it can really bloom, and leaving Ben thinking he’s been ghosted.

In a way, he’s not wrong, because Jess is now a ghost stuck between the land of the living and the afterlife, with only Kara apparently able to see her. Kara and Jess hypothesize that Jess has unfinished business on Earth, so they do everything they can to get her unstuck. Following the advice of Kara’s energy healer, Chrissy (Missi Pyle), the best friends believe that “one big love” will help Jess ascend, leading her to once again pursue Ben, who’s miraculously able to see her ghostly form too.

As Ben struggles with this seemingly ill-fated relationship while still working through long-lasting grief and hangups from when his mother died when he was just 13, Ben is supported by his younger sister, psychology master’s student Mae (Jazz Raycole). The more that Ben and Jess get together, the harder they fall, pushing them both to change. At the same time, Kara and Mae also start falling for each other, as Kara confides in Mae about her situation with Jess, and Mae pushes Kara to stop holding herself back for a ghost’s sake to pursue her own dreams. But as Christmas draws near and the lines between ghost and living worlds blur, tensions reach a boiling point as Jess discovers that Kara has been keeping secrets about a big career opportunity. With Jess fearing failure and Kara fearing change, the two are forced to confront hard truths and old resentments to achieve their happy endings.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: While the movie makes some references to It’s a Wonderful Life, the most direct comparison to Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas might actually be ghost and friendship-centric TV series like Boo, Bitch and School Spirits.

Performance Worth Watching: Honestly, all four of the main actors are great, but Kimiko Glenn and Jazz Raycole especially pop as supporting characters who are more complex, fleshed-out, and engaging than you see in your typical holiday rom-com.

Memorable Dialogue: This exchange between Jess and Kara, which showcases how self-aware the writers were about this film’s kind of random rules of ghosthood:

“You have to learn to ride a bike.”

“I can’t.”

“You can!”

“No, I mean, like I literally, I can’t grab onto the handles or pedal the pedals.”

“Then how are you sitting on it? Your tangibility is so confusing.”

Sex and Skin: There’s a bit of hanky panky, but it happens off-screen, so there’s no actual sex or skin to be seen.

Our Take: Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas has a unique storyline, good pacing, and strong acting performances that come together to create a movie full of genuine humanity and heart. While the romances between Ben and Jess, as well as Kara and Mae, are charming and definitely ones that you root for, the friendship between Jess and Kara is the real love story that will hit you in the feels. I mean, all of the actors in this have great chemistry, but Aisha Dee and Kimiko Glenn really do carry and sell this as best friends trying to be there for one another, all while struggling to say goodbye, and it’s hard not to be moved while watching them onscreen together.

Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas is more of a movie that happens to be set around the holidays than one about the holidays. It doesn’t always make sense, namely with the logic (or lack thereof) of Jess’s tangibility. Even so, neither of these things detracts from this being an engaging and evocative film. Sure, there could be more holiday stuff, but ultimately, the core of this movie is friendship, and at the end of the day, what’s more Christmasy than love and warmth in all its forms?

Our Call: If you want a strictly light-hearted, mindless watch, this isn’t exactly it, but if you’re willing to embrace the full spectrum of human emotion for a bittersweet little story about love and soul mates in all their forms, then Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas is the movie for you. Get your tissues ready and STREAM IT!

Maddy Casale is a Chicago-based writer and comedian who covers everything from animated series to Hallmark movies. Follow her on Duolingo @MCasale.