Review: ‘Ghost Town’

Zac:

Ricky Gervais teams with David Koepp to make a great debut as a film lead for American audiences in a film that is a bit familiar but fresh and funny enough to keep you entertained.

Frank (Greg Kinnear) is walking along the streets of New York having a cell phone conversation with his wife, followed by his real estate agent, and over the course of these conversations we discover he isn’t the most faithful of husbands’ right before he dies. We are then introduced to Bertram Pincus (Gervais), a dentist who isn’t a fan of people, keeps to himself, and has to prepare himself for a routine colonoscopy. After the procedure he begins to see and be able communicate with dead people and is harassed by them to help them solve their problems so they can move on. Upon returning to the hospital Bertram discovers that he died for nearly 7 minutes and that might explain is current situation. Frank begins following Bert, trying to get him to help him out with his widowed wife Gwen (TÃ ©a Leoni), who lives in Bert’s building, from marrying an alleged ‘bad guy’. The two begin scheming and trying to figure out how to win her over and the film and comedy ensues.

The film itself is a great, smart, and dry piece of comedy. It doesn’t really go for the gas, or site gimmicks, it is just great banter and humor coming out of the mouths of Greg Kinnear and Ricky Gervais. The film doesn’t feel entirely original and seems familiar to any other movie with ghosts that you have seen; luckily this one is funnier than most movies about ghosts you will probably see. It never tries to creep you out or scare you; the ghosts are peaceful and are simply trying to find their way home. The character arcs and plot turns are fairly predictable and unoriginal as well, but the actors are able to entertain with ease and make the story worth watching for what happens next; they do sneak a couple curve balls in on you though.

Gervais easily carries the film and is full of endless rants of hilarious dialogue throughout by him alone. He does a great job playing the “I hate everyone role” and is equally convincing in the tender and sweet moments when he opens up. The work is a bit below his performances on The Office and Extras, but that bar is so highly set, it’s still a pretty great level he is performing at. Kinnear gets out of the type he has been stuck playing the last few years, the nice guy schmuck that is just down on his luck, and gets to have fun playing a sort of selfish jackass that has no bounds of what he can say because he is dead. He also is intriguing as you try and figure out why he is trying to change his wife’s life, when he was cheating on her already in the first place. TÃ ©a Leoni also does a nice job in her role, selling her struggles to decide on the men in her life, while also bouncing off of Gervais well. Special mention must go out to Kristin Wig who plays Gervais’s doctor at the hospital as she is hilarious in every scene she is in, especially when she tries and deflect the obvious question from Gervais, as to what happened.

In the end, Ghost Town is a very good comedy that never really drags and remains consistently funny throughout. Gervais is a great lead and I can’t wait to see him in more stuff down the road. And while this film doesn’t really break any ground or do much new for the genre, it solidifies Gervais a true comic talent that can hold his own in American cinemas, and this film will grow with further viewings as you catch one of Gervais’s many improvised lines. Definitely check this out if you are a fan of Gervais or dry, smart, comedy.

[rating:4/5]

Travis:

‘Ghost Town’ stars British funny man Ricky Gervais (The Office, Extras) as a heartless, selfish dentist named Bertram Pincus, who despises people and lives a boring, meaningless life alone in Manhattan. He is rude to everyone and avoids people at all costs, without any regard to others’ feelings or how it may make him look. So, it may not come as a surprise to you that his internal “workings” are wound up as tightly as he is. Dr. Pincus is having some problems with the ol’ exodus a la gluteus maximus. He checks into the hospital for a “routine” procedure to resolve the issue, only to discover the following morning that he now sees dead people. No, this isn’t a sequel to ‘The Sixth Sense’, but it is reminiscent of the Bob Hoskins film ‘Heart Condition’… oh yeah, and there’s also that Robert Downey, Jr. film ‘Heart and Souls’. So, this isn’t an entirely original story idea, but ‘Ghost Town’ somehow still manages to succeed at being hilarious but not silly, and touching without the sappiness.

Greg Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine) plays Frank Herlihy, a dead man who quickly sees Pincus as a workable target. The idea is that the spirits of the dead who have unresolved issues are left to roam the Earth until they find closure in life. Well, that’s problematic when the living cannot see or hear you. That is until Dr. Pincus shows up and finds himself being stalked mercilessly by hordes or eagerly demanding spirits who want for him to help bring closure to their lives so they can move on into the afterlife. Now Dr. Pincus has to deal with the annoyances of the living and the dead. As Frank manipulates and coaxes Pincus to do his bidding and bring closure to his wife Gwen, played by Tea Leone (You Kill Me), Pincus finds he is experiencing some attitude-altering changes in direction for his life, which only complicates his arrangement with Frank.

Gervais has a brilliant knack for comedic timing and that subtle and dry British sense of humor and pompous sarcasm comes across on screen in full, gloriously understated brilliance. In other words, he’s perfected being a total ass. ‘Ghost Town’ is a movie I expected to enjoy, but once again am surprised to find yet another well-made comedy that isn’t just stupid jokes and crude humor crammed tightly into a 90-minute strip of celluloid without any care or thought put into a good story. ‘Ghost Town’ is definitely a great date movie [guys, take note] and also pleases the laughter palate, putting Gervais on the map for future feature comedies.

[rating:3.75/5]

Scott:

I havent seen Ricky Gervais since I rented the first season of the British ‘The Office’, and I wasnt his biggest fan then so going into this I was a little skeptical. From his opening scene’s he draws you in as an anal british dentist who lives along and pushes everyone away. He goes in for routine colonoscopy but requests a anaesthesia, and due to complications during the procedure he is now able to see ghosts who are still on earth due to complete their unfinished work.

The ghosts realize that he can see them and instantly start hounding him, especially the ghost played by Frank(Greg Kinnear). He thinks his goal is to breakup the engagment of his widdowed wife to a douchebag human rights lawyer. After much convincing Bertram(Gervais) decides to help him out, only to realize how much he likes Frank’s wife, played by TÃ ©a Leoni. He does his best to make her fall in love with him, although he seems to lack all of the social skills, that he wouldnt even be able to care for a cat.

The movie surprised the hell out of me, and is more than just a quaint little comedy. It has substance, and a little bit of romance which will make you fall in love with Gervais and Leoni. Definitely go out and see this movie as soon as you can, you wont be disappointed.

[rating:4/5]

Jeremy:

The story told in ‘Ghost Town’ is nothing we haven’t already seen before.   Through events beyond his control, a man begins seeing ghosts.   The ghosts know the man can see them, so they attempt to speak to him.   There is unfinished business in their lives that is keeping them on this plane of existence, and the only way they can remedy their situation is with the help of this one man.

It’s a story that has been told on several occasions in different horror films, particularly in Asian cinema.   It has found itself among the comedy genre a few times.   Bob Hoskins saw Denzel Washington’s ghost in ‘Heart Condition’.   Robert Downey, Jr. saw ghosts in ‘Heart and Souls’.   It would take some ingenuity and original screenwriting to make a film based around this concept work.

The elements that set ‘Ghost Town’ apart from the banal rabble are two-fold.   The first is Ricky Gervais, the star of the film.   The other is the impeccable writing and directing of David Koepp.   Koepp has attempted this story before with ‘Stir of Echoes’, the ’99 horror film starring Kevin Bacon.   That film was decent, but, unfortunately, it came out right after ‘The Sixth Sense’, and most people were ghosted out at that point.

What Koepp delivers in ‘Ghost Town’ is the same story with a heart and some perfectly-timed comedy.   The film follows Bertram Pincus (Gervais), a dentist who makes Jack Nicholson in ‘As Good As It Gets’ look like a people-person.   During a colonoscopy, Bertram dies for seven minutes.   When he awakens, he begins seeing and hearing ghosts.   Among them is Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), a trapped soul who wants Bertram to put an end to the impending wedding of his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni).   Things get even more complicated when Bertram meets Gwen and immediately falls in love with her.

This film would not have worked without Koepp, and it really would not have worked were it not for Gervais.   The man behind such great television comedies as ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’ has his first starring film here, and it surely won’t be his last.   Gervais has an incredible sense of wit and timing that seems to grow on trees in the UK.   He is every bit as funny as the Monty Python group or Eddie Izzard, but there is something more heartwarming about Gervais than even those.   Even when he is being incredibly rude or increasingly cynical, you get the feeling that, deep down, this guy is all heart.

He even makes the others in the cast better.   Kinnear is someone who is charming on the surface but wears thin very quickly.   He seems to be playing the same character in most everything he is in.   Teo Leoni can, if she isn’t playing off of someone with a lot of talent, be very annoying.   She has that sense that she is quirky cute but she doesn’t think she’s quirky cute.   Nonetheless, everything she does expounds on the quirky cute level until you just can’t take it any more.   Both of these actors play their parts in ‘Ghost Town’ just as they would anywhere else, but, here, they have someone much better they can play off of.

And it is not just the comedy that works in ‘Ghost Town’.   Late in the game, the film gets progressively more sentimental to the point that it turns into a genuine dramedy.   Dramedies are very hard to pull off.   It is harder to make an audience laugh than it is to make them cry, and Koepp and company pull both off here.   Once Bertram decides to help the ghosts reach out to the loved ones they have left behind, the theater gets a little dusty.

There is a lot of familiarity to be had in ‘Ghost Town’.   It’s not the best story about someone seeing ghosts that has ever been put to film, but succeeds in everything it tries to do.   With the help of Gervais, the comedy is put up on a much higher level than it had been were it someone else in the part.   ‘Ghost Town’ wasn’t designed to be a vehicle for Gervais.   In years to come, however, it more than likely will be.   As funny and as uplifting as ‘Ghost Town’ is, there’s nothing wrong with that.

[rating:4/5]