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Marty wrote on 01/22/2009:

The movie starts of interestingly enough - Boreanaz having anonymous sex in a restaurant bathroom. But once the brilliant Alan Cumming shrieks onto the stage things take a downward turn. (Gay music teachers are everywhere fearing for their livelihoods.) Even with all that high-decibel overacting, the movie could have been rescued had there been more done with the return of Sebastian as the ghost. His one minute appearance had me wanting more. But if Barbra Streisand could hire the best male vocalist on Broadway and not let him sing a note in "Yentl," director Cumming could do no less,

Amos Lassen wrote on 12/10/2008:

“Ghost Writer”

Whatever Happened to Alan Cumming

Amos Lassen

It’s been a while since we have seen Alan Cumming in a film but he is back—not only as star but as director of “Ghost Writer”, a grand guignol of a film with allusions to “Sunset Boulevard” and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane”. Here is a personification of himself and he gives us a black comedy that is refreshing and surprising. The film was originally entitled “Suffering Man’s Charity” and in it Cummings cast himself as John Vandermark, a recluse who has seen better days (shades of Bette Davis). The movie is pure camp from start to finish.
John is scorned by Sebastian St. Germain (David Boreanaz), a hunk, and John is out for revenge and the way he goes about it will keep you laughing. Along the way we meet some interesting people played by a bevy of stars including Karen Black, Anne Heche, Carrie Fisher and the always wonderful Jane Lynch.
John takes in Sebastian. A struggling writer (aren’t we all?) who outstays his welcome. Eventually John realizes that Sebastian has merely been using him so he looks for a way to gain comeuppance. He decides to make him work to pay off what he owes him in rent but Sebastian dies suddenly. John, feeling guilty, helps to get Sebastian’s book published posthumously and then take credit for it. However, Sebastian rises from the dead and comes back to haunt John.
Alan Cumming obviously is a man of talent but here he is way over the top. He is entertaining but his character is never fully constructed and when he goes mad, we are not really sure who he is. In fact, he comes across as half-baked and that is too bad because this film has great potential. The script is also weak. Cumming as a gay music teacher with a penchant for hustlers is nor sure how to act around a guy like Sebastian who has sense. John acts out his life in excess, as is his character from what I could surmise and he is not at all likeable. The role was obviously a challenge for Cumming but it just does not fit him.
The movie seems strange and bizarre and silly. The plot is totally unpredictable (which can sometimes be a good thing but not so in “Ghost Writer”). I so wanted to love this film and hope that it might become a cult classic. It still might become just that. Even with my criticism, this is a film that must be seen because of what it is.