Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Offbeat holiday tale with language, death, and sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In GHOSTING: THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS, after a great first date, Jess (Aisha Dee) is killed in a car accident because she's reading texts from that same great first date. The date, Ben (Kendrick Sampson), felt the chemistry too and is baffled the next day when Jess seems to have ghosted him. Soon he learns she's died and, not long after, that she's a ghost who has been unable to "ascend." For some unexplained reason, only two people in the mortal world can see and hear her, two people she loves—her best friend Kara (Kimiko Glenn), and, despite the fact that she's just met him, Ben. They all consult an energy healer on how to let Jess get on with being dead.
Is It Any Good?
By the end of Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas, you've spent a pleasant 86 minutes with likable actors playing likable people but you might wonder if it was worth the watch. The story becomes so lost in its own lack of satisfying conclusions that you just sit there wondering what happened. Movies about ghosts require that filmmakers explain the ghost rules that govern how ghosts act in their particular movie: when they can be seen, where they go when they vanish, and a myriad of other questions we mere mortals are prone to ask about ectoplasmic beings. In this movie, ghosts can be seen by some people and not others. Why? Sometimes they can walk through doors. Other times, they need a mortal to open the door for them. Some people die and just go straight to where dead people go (we're not told where that is) and others hang around trying to sort something out. Somehow helping someone paint a portrait seems to make everything better for everyone. How? We don't know. Somehow a dead person realizes her soulmate is her best friend. And how does that help her "ascend," or leave living people behind? Nothing here answers that pressing question.
None of this makes us like Jess, Kara, and Ben any less, but it definitely diminishes our admiration for the filmmakers. The script is both intelligent and prone to wandering off point. This is a movie with many cute moments, but it's also kind of a mess.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the cause of Jess' death. Her accident seems so preventable, yet the circumstances are scarcely mentioned. What is your position on texting and driving? Does this movie change your mind?
The word soulmate is used here. Usually it suggests a connection with a romantic partner. Here, it refers to a close friendship. What is your definition of a soulmate?
This movie seems to suggest there is an afterlife where you can go and see your dead friends. What is your view of life after death?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : December 4, 2019
- Cast : Aisha Dee , Kendrick Sampson , Kimiko Glenn
- Director : Theresa Bennett
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s) , Black Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s) , Female Movie Writer(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Romance
- Topics : Fantasy ( Ghosts ) , Holidays ( Christmas )
- Run time : 87 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : November 18, 2025
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