Darby and the Dead (2022)

Darby and the Dead earns its charm by taking a familiar teen setup and twisting it into something oddly tender: a high school comedy where the afterlife is just another messy social circle, and growing up means learning how to live with what you’ve lost. The movie zips along with bright, energetic pacing, but it never forgets the quieter ache underneath, using its supernatural hook to sneak in a surprisingly sweet look at grief, friendship, and second chances. Riele Downs makes Darby prickly and lovable, and Auliʻi Cravalho brings such spark to Capri that their chemistry turns the film into a true two-hander rather than a gimmick. It’s not for viewers who want their ghost stories scary or their teen comedies razor-edged, but if you’re in the mood for something breezy, heartfelt, and a little offbeat, this one goes down easy.

Darby and the Dead wants to mash up teen comedy, afterlife fantasy, and a bit of grief-driven heart, and you can feel the intention to give its heroine a quirky, meaningful journey. The problem is it rarely pushes past familiar high-school movie beats, so the ghost-counseling hook ends up feeling like window dressing for a pretty predictable “fit in and find yourself” storyline. The humor can land as awkward rather than sharp, and the script often takes the safest, most TV-movie route when it should be weirder or deeper. Still, Riele Downs and Auliʻi Cravalho bring enough charm to keep it watchable, so if you’re fine with a lightweight, formula-forward teen supernatural dramedy, it’ll do; if you want the premise fully exploited or the emotions to really hit, you’ll likely leave underwhelmed.