Originally released: 1988
Starring: Peter O'Toole, Daryl Hannah, Beverly D'Angelo, Steve Guttenberg, Liam Neeson, Jennifer Tilly, Peter Gallagher
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Based on: a script? I assume they had one, anyway.
It's time for another edition of Cheesy Movies Tasha Likes! This 1980s gem takes place in Ireland, which was an exotic place to travel in the '80s, or so I imagine. Peter O'Toole is the last in a long line of Plunkets whose castle is about to moved brick-by-brick to the US by an evil corporate dude. So he sets it up as a haunted hotel to make the money to buy it back. It IS haunted, but he doesn't think it is, so he makes his employees pretend to be ghosts and scare a bunch of American tourists. But the tourists take matters into their own tentacles and fall in love with a few of the ghosts.
I saw High Spirits when I was eight, and I swear I was obsessed with this movie. It has everything I could possibly like: castles, ghosts, people falling in love. But by far my favorite part of the film is Sharon, played by Beverly D'Angelo. She is SO hilarious. As an eight-year-old, she represented ideal womanhood, which is a little bizarre because she is a total raging bitch. I freaking love her! See, Sharon isn't a bad person, she's just trapped in a marriage with this boring guy who is completely uninteresting. But things turn out happily for Sharon, because she meets LIAM NEESON (aka, Martin, a ghost) and he knows EXACTLY what to do when she starts spiraling. *eyebrow wraggle*
Oh yeahs.
Strangely, it appears that in certain circles, this is not considered a "good" film. Like, seriously? Not a good movie? I don't... I can't even... You have true love, a talking horse, a castle, ghosts literally coming out of the walls, Steve Guttenberg getting bitch-slapped, and gratuitous scenes of drunkenness. A better question is, What's NOT to like? I suppose you don't enjoy The Butcher's Wife or Robin Hood either, huh? Huh? Okay, the talking horse is pretty stupid. And Daryl Hannah's accent is pretty bad. But still.
For me, this is a highly enjoyable movie. It's worth watching just to see a young Liam Neeson acting silly and lusty instead of broody and shouting into a phone. And look at how many stars are in it! You know you want to watch it.
