The Presleys purchase a cheap and abandoned house. Kevin, the youngest, records a video of a ghost in the attic. The ghost is mute and does not remember his past life. The ghost's shirt says 'Ernest,' so Kevin calls him Ernest. Kevin is resolved to help Ernest discover his past, while his father Frank publishes the video of Ernest on YouTube to become famous.
At high school Kevin meets his neighbor Joy. They discover a photo of Ernest posing with an Ernest S., the previous house owner. Ernest has flashbacks of his daughter.
Horror writer Dr. Leslie Monroe, who previously ran a CIA program for capturing ghosts, breaks into the Presley home to capture Ernest alongside several FBI agents, but Kevin, Joy and Ernest have already left to find Ernest S. in Oklahoma. Ernest S. identifies the ghost as Randy. He claims that after Randy's wife died, Randy left his daughter June with Ernest S. and disappeared. The CIA arrive in Oklahoma and capture Randy.
Randy has a flashback of being killed by Ernest S., and Dr. Monroe frees Randy. Meanwhile, Ernest S. arrives at the house to kill Kevin, believing Kevin is avenging Randy's murder. Ernest S. reveals that his wife was infertile and they murdered Randy to take June for their own. Ernest S. chases Kevin to the attic, where Frank tackles Ernest S. out the window. Kevin and Frank reunite Randy with June, and Randy moves on to the afterlife after a heartwarming goodbye with Kevin.
Kevin and Joy are now a couple and the Presleys are preparing to move to a different house 5 miles away. Before leaving, Kevin and Joy are talking in the attic and he asks if she thinks Randy can still see them from wherever he is. After Kevin leaves the attic, a light flickers in the attic, possibly Randy’s way of saying he can and good-bye/thank you.
Production of We Have a Ghost was announced in July 2021, with Christopher Landon writing and directing, and Geoff Manaugh, on whose short story it was based, as executive producer. The cast included Anthony Mackie, David Harbour, Jahi Winston, Tig Notaro, Jennifer Coolidge, Erica Ash, Niles Fitch, Isabella Russo, Faith Ford and Steve Coulter.[6] Harbour was Landon's first choice for the role of Ernest; as he told Entertainment Weekly: "I knew that the role was incredibly challenging because there's no dialog, so he just has to do so much with so little. We had a meeting, and he told me he was terrified of doing it, which I thought was great because it shows that he was feeling vulnerable and intrigued and excited. By the end of our meeting, I think we both felt really strongly that it was a good match".[7]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 42% of 73 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "We Have a Ghost has a fun concept and a talented cast; unfortunately, this spookily uneven '80s pastiche also has very little idea of what to do with them."[11]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[12]
