The Ghost Writer

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  • Opened February 19, 2010 
  • 2 hr 9 min
  • PG-13 | or language, brief nudity/sexuality, some violence and a drug reference

  • Parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 15+. More on child suitability

  • When a successful British ghostwriter, The Ghost, agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, his agent assures him it's the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start-not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an unfortunate accident. The Ghost flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day after he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA-a war crime. As The Ghost works, he begins to uncover clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA-and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson
  • Director: Roman Polanski
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Suspense/Thriller

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Critic Reviews

100
San Francisco Chronicle
| Mick LaSalle

Here's another thought: This old man who can't leave the house has just made the first important film of 2010. Read full review

100
Wall Street Journal
|

The Ghost Writer is so rich you may feel you paid too little for your ticket when the whole thing meets its very Polanski-ish climax. Please don't tell anyone. Read full review

100
Chicago Sun-Times
| Roger Ebert

This movie is the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident, it builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action. Read full review

88
Rolling Stone
| Peter Travers

All credit to a finely tuned Brosnan for packing so much intensity and wayward wit into his scenes with McGregor. Their verbal duels make for a dazzling game of cat-and-mouse. Read full review

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Pierce Brosnan and Ewan Mcgregor in "The Ghost Writer."