Many critics found it difficult to accept the basic premise, that the main character's continued mourning of his deceased wife is so detrimental to those around him. Roger Ebert, in particular, expressed frustration: "The movie cannot see that Esther is a deranged nuisance who should mind her own business, that David is entitled to his grief, that Rachel is happy living on the island, and that if Gillian appears to David, so much the better." Jack Matthews of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote: "Despite its apparent parallels to "Ghost", "Gillian" takes an entirely opposite path. Throughout "Ghost", we were made to feel desperate for a reunion of Patrick Swayze's roaming spirit with a mourning Demi Moore. In "Gillian", the whole purpose is to get David to give up the ghost." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" thought the film lacked dramatic impetus: "the grieving husband never quite seems crazy enough - and the sister is never angry enough...drama is avoided. Issues are muddy. And everyone stays a nice person... In fact, typical of the film's undramatic choices - it's ungenerous unwillingness to commit to the extreme - the husband knows she is an illusion. So he's not crazy. She's not a ghost. And the sister-in-law, far from evil, is merely concerned. So why are we watching these people?"