Cash strapped actor Warren McCloud (a likable portrayal by Jason Lively) and his struggling filmmaker buddy Fred (the equally engaging Tim McDaniel) find themselves in possession of a pawn ticket left to Warren by his grandfather. Said pawn ticket sends the duo on a wild ghost chase through Hollywood. Moreover, Warren and Fred are assisted by the wizened little old man ghost of the grandfather's Brit-accented butler Lewis. Director/co-writer Roland Emmerich relates the entertainingly goofy story at a steady pace and maintains an amiable lightweight tone throughout. The ever-adorable Jill Whitlow perks things up considerably with her cute and radiant turn as spunky actress Laurie. Paul Gleason does well as mean jerk studio head Stan Gordon and Leonard Lansink contributes a funny turn as Gordon's bumbling flunky Karl. Popping up in nifty bits are Chuck "Porky" Mitchell as huffy diner owner Mr. Rosenbaum and veteran character actor Larry Pennell as a booze-sodden bum. Karl Walter Lindenlaub's slick cinematography gives this picture a nice glossy look. The bouncy soundtrack and the groovy-bumpin' score by Joel Wachbrit and Hubert Bartholomae keep things bubbling along. Moreover, there's a good-natured easy'n'breezy quality to this movie that's impossible to either resist or dislike. The special effects are pretty cool as well. A pleasant diversion.

"Ghost Chase" was an early effort by director Roland Emmerich before he moved onto big-budget Hollywood movies, and when he was turning out German-financed movies derivative of famous Hollywood movies. While this movie isn't as derivative as some of his other movies made at this time, you can still see influences, ranging from "Halloween" to "E.T." Actually, this unoriginality is one of the lesser problems I had with this movie. It's a pretty cheap-looking movie, for one thing, with poor cinematography and lighting. Much of the dialogue seems post-dubbed, and many of the special effects are tacky. And they apparently couldn't afford a decent-sounding musical score. But most of the blame falls on Emmerich's direction and script. Emmerich doesn't seem to know how to stage scenes many times (look at how the bicycle crash and the overpouring of coffee in a mug is filmed.) The script almost seems to have been written as the movie was filmed, with the plot taking forever to get going and then progressing at a sluggish pace when it's not being confusing. If you hate Emmerich's major Hollywood studio movies, take a look at this, and you'll see what real bad movie making is like.

Re. Ghost Chase (or, Hollywood Monster).I had the pleasure of seeing the film on video today. And survived it.A principal problem -- perhaps part and parcel of severe budget problems -- is that the principal ghost figure, Louis, looks like a big rubber doll and the trick with his British accent is no fun at all.All the characters play in three speeds: frantic, more frantic, most frantic, and we never see them functioning as real people (as one of your responders mentions). The ending is hysterical and hyperactive and without much head or tail to it. Why didn't they die in the next to last shot? A principal loss suggested above is that the sympathy which makes one forget many flaws in a story is missing, as the characters, good or bad or indifferent, are not three dimensional in any way. The girl's workplace is a sole exception.Best, demedici

This film is BAD. All the ingredients that add up to make a good film are lacking here, the script - terrible, the acting? - worse. And if you can find a worse director doing (financially) well in Hollywood, I applaud you.