Ghost of New Orleans

The Ghost of New Orleans is a ghost detective procedural. I do not know why I didn't see it at the theaters, but I wish I had. I really wanted to give this an eight or nine, but I can't. The last twenty minutes it comes into its own. I'm not as put off by the one bad accent, if you been too Southern Louisianna then you've heard it from Louisianans, there's only one place where it really doesn't work. There are three Louisianan accents, and he (Barry) does pull off one except once. Regarding basements in New Orleans, it's a common mistake and the term may be used in reference to a first floor that floods easily that is normally behind a retaining wall to keep the floods out. They feel like basements but are not basements so when you see a basement in a movie about Louisianna, it wasn't filmed in Louisianna. If you like detective or Ghost Stories then you'll like this.

If they'd only paid a bit more for someone over age 15 to write a script this could have been amazing. The actors 10, scenery 9, edgy noir setting 10. The most haunted city in North America 11. The prettiest dress I've ever seen Lake Bell in 9. Dialogue 2. Plot needed layering and subtlety 4.

It coulda been a contender.

Lucas convincingly pulled off this eerie tale of a police detective who not only was haunted by his past mistakes but haunted by the murder of beautiful young woman in the present. The storyline kept me interested and somewhat surprised to the end.

I don't know if I should feel badly for Cary Elwes or Terrence Howard for having to portray characters that were way out of their wheelhouse, or if I should cry for those of us that had to watch them. OMG, they were terrible.

The story had potential, but was bogged down and moved way too slowly.

It's hard to believe how many really great actors were a part of this incredibly bad film.

The opening scene reveals the problem with this film - if it was a home-made film, ala the Blair Witch project, it might be more forgivable, but even indie films should be able to do better camera work than this, better directing. It's particularly tragic as a supernatural mystery film in New Orleans sounds so good and the scenery was downgraded by the truly poor production - almost as if the director, cameramen and production crew were entirely trashed throughout filming. I liked the plot, the casting and though I'd watch a film just for Josh Lucas, here his acting was spotty (fading in and out of character, too blatant to be passed off by the character development that did happen) he was far outmatched by Terrence Howard. Deborah Woll and Cary Elwes are fun in their supporting roles and it's always good to see those two. Lake Bell is very pretty - not going to win any acting awards for this - but she didn't ruin the film. I'd say the cast must not have been overly inspired - hope nobody else gives this director a shot. What a shame because this could have been a much better film. Still, definitely worth watching if you're going to bed anyway and are watching it for free.