Do you believe in the boogeyman? How about the demons that lurk within the shadows of the night? How about ghosts?

Ghosts are one of the many horrors of the night, possessing and scaring any and all of those around them. Being one of the most popular paranormal attractions, they are constantly under the spotlight when it comes to horror movies; the movie We Have a Ghost turns the nightmarish creature a ghost entails into something more loveable, but their execution of it is more than questionable.

The comedy takes place a year after the previous owners flee an old, decrepit house in terror. As deteriorating as the house may seem, it isn’t the only thing struggling to stay together; the Presley family—the new owners of this dilapidated home—struggle to keep their relationship with one another from falling apart. The youngest son, Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), harbors feelings of resentment and disillusion towards his father, Frank (Anthony Makie), who struggles to make ends meet. At least, that was the case until the family finds out they’ve got an unexpected resident living amongst them, Ernest the ghost (David Harbour).

In an attempt at profiting off the fact that the family had discovered a real ghost, Frank posts a video of Ernest, who ends up becoming an internet sensation. The family ends up attracting various kinds of attention, with people even congregating outside of their house. However, not all of that attention is positive—especially when the CIA attempts to take Ernest.

It isn’t uncommon for movies to have a few discrepancies or mix-ups; even some of the biggest movies known have moments where some things don’t match up. However, We Have a Ghost seems to be littered with small contradictions and plot points that don’t seem to make sense, ultimately taking away from the overall experience and flow of the movie.

One plot point that was especially confusing was that, at one point, the CIA made a fake announcement that Ernest had kidnapped Kevin and his next-door neighbor, Joy (Isabella Russo). Soon after, the police find Kevin and Joy in a town nearby, but rather than safely bringing them back to their homes, the police tell Kevin to get on the ground as if they were arresting him.

The confusing discrepancies and plot points aren’t the only things that seemed faulty; the character’s themselves did too. It was clear that some characters’ screen time was just enough to introduce new information and then leave the conversation. 

The character that particularly comes to mind is Joy. In the beginning, she occasionally pops up, but it is typically just to provide some information to the person watching and then leave. Later on, she becomes a larger part of the story, but in the beginning, it felt awkward to have her just pop in and then leave 10 seconds later.

Although the movie may have its downfalls, it would be a lie to say that there weren’t parts that I enjoyed; the film definitely had its shining moments. Most of the jokes in the movie were catered more towards kids—seeing as it is technically a kids’ movie—but there were still moments that I found myself laughing at the jokes that they had made. Even some of the pop culture references that the movie made seemed natural and occasionally humorous, especially in comparison to many other films whose references just come off as stiff and awkward.

While We Have a Ghost does have its strengths, it definitely isn’t a movie that will outshine many in the vast collection of movies Netflix offers.