Ah, a perfect job.

Quietly writing the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister.

Imagine, you are at a windswept beach house in a remote part of Massachusetts.  The roaring ocean, the rolling beach, a beautiful, spurned wife, some political issues…a murder…

Alright, at that point, your dream might start to break down, as it does for The Ghost (Ewan McGregor) in Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer”, based on the novel by Robert Harris.

McGregor is hired to finish the prematurely ended memoirs of Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan).  But what starts as a well-paying ghost-writing job quickly turns into mystery and mayhem, as The Ghost, writer-turned-investigator, is flushed deeper and deeper into the toilet of politics and family strife, that has roots much deeper than the surface.

The brilliance of Polanski’s movie is the crossing of intrigue, drama, and humor that keeps us involved.  McGregor is any curious person at a new job – he wants details, and he doesn’t always know where the boundaries are.  Frustration mounts as suspicions mount, and we are treated to an inside look into a very complicated inter-country cesspool that, very likely, happens every day.  There are thinly veiled references to modern political problems that will keep the attentive viewer smiling, and McGregor’s pitch perfect performance is more than enough to keep you involved for all 120 minutes.

Brosnan’s Lang is brooding and angry, counterbalancing McGregor’s nonchalant demeanor.  Both turn in terrific performances, as does Olivia Williams as Lang’s wife, Ruth.

Although you may start to put the pieces together a little faster than McGregor, “The Ghost Writer” is well worth it.

And, while you’re watching think about all the things in your life that you wanted…that you wished for…that you thought would give you freedom or peace (money, work, etc…).  Then, as you watch McGregor bang his head against the brick wall of political reality, think to yourself, “Should I be more careful what I wish for?”

-josh