With a marvelously spirited lead performance by Thora Birch ("American Beauty") and worldly wise direction by Terry Zwigoff ("Crumb") in his fiction feature debut, United Artists' "Ghost World" was one of the hottest tickets in the final weekend of the Seattle International Film Festival, and deservedly so. Based on co-screenwriter Daniel Clowes' comic book of the same name, "Ghost World" has a very good chance of drawing teenage-and-up fans of the original and adult audiences jaded by big commercial releases. Starting with a limited release next month and expanding soon after, the R-rated film should garner critical kudos and head into post-theatrical realms with plenty of life left.

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