Ricky Gervais is brilliant in Ghost Town, playing an unnervingly rude dentist, Bertram, who dies for a few minutes during surgery and acquires the unwanted ability to see ghosts. Chased throughout Manhattan by a gaggle of restless spirits begging him to take care of their unfinished business on Earth, Bertram turns them all away except Frank (Greg Kinnear). The latter, a rogue who cheated on his archaeologist widow, Gwen (Téa Leoni), wants Bertram to intervene in a romance between Gwen and a starchy activist (Bill Campbell). Misanthropic Bertram has to polish his relationship... patter, but ends up sounding a lot like Gervais' infamous character in the original The Office, unable to complete a sentence without making others uncomfortable. In time, of course, Bertram falls for the wonderful Gwen, setting up a bunch of overlapping conflicts. Cowritten and directed by David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Ghost Town walks a fine line between comic freshness and a story idea with elements that have become overly familiar in movies and on television. Kinnear and Leoni have never been better on screen, but Ghost Town is well worth seeing because no one like Gervais has previously played the hapless hero in a high-concept film such as this one. With Gervais doing his familiar, hilariously discomfiting thing, it really doesn't matter what kind of movie Ghost Town is. Happily, it's a pretty good film in every respect. --Tom Keogh [show more]
I was apprehensive about seeing this film, because even though I do find Ricky Gervais funny, I thought his cameos in Night at the Museum and Stardust really fell short of his potential as a comedy actor. Even so, Ghost Town - his first lead role in a movie - reinstalled my faith in him as a truly high quality comedy performer.
The film itself is a really refreshing take on modern romance - unlike many other films, Ghost Town detaches itself from staple genres, which I thought was great because it lent itself to a very open-minded story, which is funny, touching and quite poignant.
So if Gervais is the only reason holding you back from watching Ghost Town, I'd definitely recommend giving it a chance - Bertram Pincus is a wonderful character, and although not astoundingly different from past characters such as David Brent, he is very well-realised by Gervais, and I wouldn't hesitate to sit down in front of his new movies.
Also, if it's pace you're after, this probably isn't the film for you, but it's a perfect for a more mellow kind of night in.
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