2 stars

A heart-warming family dramedy where one member of the household just happens to have died decades earlier, Netflix's We Have a Ghost is a little bit Beetlejuice and a little bit Drop Dead Fred, but ultimately also a little disappointing.

Moving into a new home in the Chicago suburbs are the Presley family: dad Frank (Anthony Mackie from the Marvel films), mum Melanie (Erica Ash), and brothers Fulton (Niles Fitch) and Kevin (Jahi Winston).

Their new house is atmospheric to say the least, an enormous Victorian Gothic number with character, which is to say quite run down.

The house was one of the few in their price range after having to move when another one of dad Frank's get-rich-quick schemes failed to pay off, and youngest son Kevin is feeling down in the dumps about his new home and his new school, even despite meeting his cute punk-rock next-door neighbour Joy (Isabella Russo).

Their house just happens to be haunted, but when the ghostly Ernest (David Harbour) pulls all of his best poltergeist haunting tricks, Kevin is completely unmoved.

Ernest may be the undead, but Kevin is a moody teenager, an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

The pair become surprising friends and Kevin tries to help the ghost discover what has tethered him to the world, and the house.

But when Frank and Fulton discover Ernest, they start filming him, turning ghost and family into online sensations and monetising it with merchandise and appearances on the TV show of psychic Judy Romano (Jennifer Coolidge), which draws the attention of a former FBI paranormal investigator (Tig Notaro).

Writer-director Christopher Landon has been behind some of my favourite recent horror-comedies, the likes of Freaky, Happy Death Day and its sequel Happy Death Day 2 U.

A lot of that wit and panache is missing from this straight-to-Netflix film, possibly because it is meant for a younger or family demographic - but it still has some dark moments.

What a shame the film is drawn out to a ponderous two-hour runtime when there are a handful of brilliantly directed and exciting action scenes that show what the film might have been. It feels instead like two films, one fun and one tedious, have been Frankensteined together.

In one of those fun scenes, Coolidge's television psychic and her film crew take over the Presley household to film an episode about the internet sensation ghost Ernest, and Ernest pulls out everything he has to scare the bejeezus out of the film crew.

In scenes like this, Stranger Things star David Harbour shines in pure slapstick physical comedy. Harbour makes the film what it is - his Ernest is a silent ghost and his physical performance, facial tics and mannerisms are a pleasure to watch.

Landon's screenplay includes a large number of characters, some of who get full storylines while others just languish in the background. While Notaro's X-Files-inspired FBI agent's role in the film feels like a poorly thought through distraction, Coolidge steals the show.

With all that Netflix money, there are some big names in even tiny roles and there is some lovely set design and cinematography.