We Have a Ghost
Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): February 24, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
15
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinKaren GordonFeb 23, 2023
With its screwy supernatural premise — buoyed by terrific cast that includes Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Coolidge, David Harbour and Tig Notaro — the movie is a charmer with heart. Read full review
80
EmpireJohn NugentFeb 24, 2023
Christopher Landon dials down the blood and dials up the feels for a fun, heartfelt horror-comedy enlivened by David Harbour’s accomplished apparition-acting. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineMatthew JacksonFeb 23, 2023
We Have a Ghost may not stand toe-to-toe with the dual brilliance of Freaky and Happy Death Day, but it’s proof that Christopher Landon still feels like he’s just getting started. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 23, 2023
The cast is wonderful, the laughs are frequent, and the ending is truly touching. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoFeb 24, 2023
Even as We Have a Ghost sags in places, it never completely fades into the dull background of Netflix originals of late. We may not have an outright winner, but we do have a decent diversion. Read full review
60
Screen RantAlex HarrisonFeb 24, 2023
Landon's latest will be best remembered for its multiple laugh-out-loud set pieces, and with the craftsmanship and performances on display, viewers will likely be willing to forgive its less-impactful stretches. Read full review
60
The TelegraphRobbie CollinFeb 23, 2023
As in Landon’s terrific body-swap horror comedy Freaky, there’s often a surprisingly thoughtful undercurrent to these zany riffs, and the tone is nicely judged for younger teens. But where Freaky was relatively honed, this rambles to a fault, taking numerous optional detours . . . en route to an emotional climax that doesn’t quite land. Read full review
60
IGNKenneth Seward Jr.Feb 23, 2023
We Have a Ghost is a mostly bland movie, elevated by a few good performances and an intriguing premise that doesn’t go as far as it seems like it should. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonFeb 23, 2023
There’s a scary amount of stuff going on in writer-director Christopher Landon’s horror movie/murder mystery/domestic drama/deep-state thriller/coming-of-age teenage romance. It may be based on the short story “Ernest” by Geoff Manaugh. But there’s nothing short about it. At the same time, it has its charms. Read full review
58
IndieWireChristian ZilkoFeb 23, 2023
If you have your heart set on watching a new release about people who have a ghost today, “We Have a Ghost” will be a tolerable experience. But for everyone else, reading the film’s highly descriptive title is about as interesting as spending 127 minutes watching it. Read full review
56
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 23, 2023
We Have a Ghost is a desperate mix of feel-good sentimentality, watered-down surreality, and comedy as transparent in its hackiness as the film’s title spook. Read full review
55
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaFeb 23, 2023
We Have a Ghost can't escape its overstuffed nature, and that hampers the entire experience. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayFeb 24, 2023
Landon gets a lot of help from Harbour, whose facial expressions alone capture this ghost’s wit, hopes, fears and heartbreak. He’s one lovable dead guy. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubCourtney HowardFeb 24, 2023
Closure is inevitably attained, of course, but at a cheapened cost that dramatically lessens the impact of its main characters’ journeys. And that’s truly dispiriting. Read full review
50
We Got This CoveredScott CampbellFeb 24, 2023
We Have a Ghost shows plenty of ambition as writer and director Christopher Landon broadens his horizons, but it never feels anything more than a series of disparate parts failing to come together as a satisfying whole. Read full review
50
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottFeb 23, 2023
The result is an exhausting and ungainly mish-mash of a movie that pretends to have something to say but doesn’t really. Similarly, it doesn’t know what it wants to be or — consequently — who its audience is. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonFeb 23, 2023
The film grasps onto anything that will amuse itself for a scene. Read full review
50
ColliderChase HutchinsonFeb 23, 2023
Neither wacky enough to be a winning comedy nor clever enough to be a horror sendup, We Have a Ghost is a film that leaves little to grasp onto as it all just ends up slipping through your fingers. Read full review
50
VarietyMichael NordineFeb 23, 2023
Rarely ha-ha funny and never scary, it’s ultimately more sentimental than anything else — a clunky approach that undermines its strong performances. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeFeb 24, 2023
It’s not that its heart isn’t in the right place, it’s just that its heart has been transplanted from somewhere else. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 24, 2023
A thriller that isn’t thrilling, a horror comedy that rarely produces more than a chuckle or three, a sentimental tale that can’t quite wring a tear out of death and loss, “We Have a Ghost” dishonors pretty much every hit film it steals from. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonFeb 23, 2023
At an outrageously over-long 127 minutes, writer-director Christopher Landon’s adaptation of Geoff Manaugh’s novel “Ernest” feels like a different movie every 15 minutes. Read full review
33
The PlaylistAsher LubertoFeb 24, 2023
We Have a Ghost tries to add too many elements to the mix–the horror, the comedy, the drama, and the message about how we need to leave our dead behind. Without committing to a tone, it all feels a bit mangled. It’s a movie that wants to be a mix of everything but, in the end, winds up being nothing. Read full review
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