Movie Notes: Ghost Town

October 2nd, 2009

= 4 stars

Starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni
Directed by David Koepp

Synopsis

Antisocial dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) accidentally dies for a short time during routine surgery and awakens to find he can communicate with ghosts. One in particular, Frank (Greg Kinnear) wants Bertram to break up the impending marriage of his former wife, Gwen (Tea Leoni).

The Good

• It’s funny. The funniest scenes are the earlier ones, where Bertram’s dislike of the human race is made clear. His run-in with a spray-tanned doctor who is reluctant to divulge what happened during his surgery, can only be described as awkwardly bizarre.
• You can see the screenwriter’s wheels turning at how to make this movie work — unsure if Gervais can carry a film, let’s cast the charismatic Kinnear and Leoni. And how exactly will this play out where one protagonist is dead, and nobody wants to see Gervais making out with Leoni? The result is better than I expected — mostly because Gervais aims for subtler comedy. The movie ends on a touching note with just the right amount of ambiguity.
• Cute, surreal details are sprinkled about to keep things amusing — real life people sneeze when they encounter an unseen ghost, the Pimm’s cup, and a poster on the ceiling above the dentist’s chair.

The Bad

• A bit inappropriately glossy — Bertram’s apartment looks like a Crate & Barrel catalog and the dead are all antiseptic and well-preserved — no zombies with missing limbs.

Conclusion

Better than I expected plot wise, Leoni is charming, and Gervais is awkwardly funny. Thumbs up.

IMDB: Ghost Town
Wikipedia: Ghost Town
Rotten Tomatoes: Ghost Town 83%