Quietly poetic in its pirouettes of aimlessness and flirtations with despair, Ghost World, which was adapted from the comic book of the same name by originator-coscreenwriter Daniel Clowes and director-coscreenwriter Terry Zwigoff, is a tale of teen angst that manages to be artfully stark and uproariously funny at the same time.

The severely alienated Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson), best friends since childhood in their sun-bleached, generic suburb, decide to take a pass on college and set out looking for a house together after their practically farcical high school graduation. They're not too good at applying themselves, though — it's more fun to razz the waiter at a lame, local, '50s-themed diner; cadge rides from their pal Josh (Brad Renfro); or answer cheesy personal ads with prank phone calls. As a result of the latter activity, Enid winds up forming a peculiar attachment to a vinyl-fetishist sad sack named Seymour (Steve Buscemi). "He's the opposite of everything I hate," Enid explains to the fairly repulsed Rebecca. Eventually, intimations of age-inappropriate romance start emerging, and Seymour becomes the fulcrum from which all of Enid's wildly contradictory emotions swing.

The characterizations and performances here are remarkably deft, and Zwigoff's direction (he has only two features, both documentaries, under his belt, including the superb Crumb) is pitch-perfect; the screenwriting, too, is remarkably tight and multileveled. This treasure packs a different kind of summer-movie wallop—one that keeps growing long after you've left the theater.