Un fantasma fastidioso

The story: A dentist, played by Ricky Gervais, is sick of dealing with people. Not just a few people; everyone. Social niceties annoy him and "just being friendly" is out of the question. But this doesn't prevent annoying chatter from following him to his dental practice or even to the hospital where he must undergo his first colonoscopy. While the doctors roll him down a corridor on a gurney, chatting about frivolous nonsense, he interrupts and insists on full anesthesia for the examination.

The Problem: Once back on the street, he realizes he can see people that others cannot. He returns to the hospital and asks the doctor if anything unusual happened during the procedure. The doctor's reticence does not deter him from wrenching the truth from her that, technically speaking, he was dead for "almost 7 minutes". As a result, he can now see ghosts. And of course, they all want something from him.

The "something" that one particular ghost, Frank (Greg Kinnear), wants is for him to intervene in the romance of Frank's widow. At first reluctant to take on the task, he finally is blackmailed into to trying to break up her relationship and soon, he begins to enjoy the challenge.

The film rises above the hackneyed "invisible man" jokes and plays out as a fresh comedy romance. Not fresh on plot, admittedly, but on Gervais' style. True, it's the same character he always plays, but seeing it long-form and with the love interest,it's satisfying. The romance in the plot calls for a performance that offers more than a tortured look or a snarky comment - and Gervais delivers.

There are no weepy "But I love you" scenes. There are touching moments, however, that are more akin to "classic" Hollywood, rather than the big-budget, ruin-the-characters, 4th-installment, CGI festivals that are the hallmark of Tinseltown these days. Worth seeing. Our packed-house audience laughed out loud and applauded the ending.

I can't understand how I missed it. Written and directed by David Koepp, the man who wrote "Apartment Zero" and "Death Becomes Her" with Martin Donovan, a personal hero of mine. Not to mention some of the biggest moneymakers of the last two decades. "Ghost Town" strives for something else, it pinpoints the goodness hidden in the heart of someone who, perhaps, never knew was there. A comedy of personal discovery no less. I was moved and delighted. Ricky Gervais goes through it, stumbling over himself with an innocence that is as real as it is mysterious. I connected with him half way through and it took me by surprise. I was loving a character that at the beginning I thought was funny but despicable. That for me means I've learned something. Thank you.

Ricky Gervais, the star of the British "The Office" and "Extras", is someone you wouldn't really expect to be on the big screen. Yet here he is, delivering an hilarious and heartfelt performance in what one would usually consider the most clichéd of genres: the romantic comedy.

In Ghost Town, Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a socially awkward prick of a dentist who dies for seven minutes while going in for a routine colonoscopy. Through this miraculous experience he gains the annoying ability to see ghosts- all of whom want him to finish their business on Earth. In particular is Frank, the unfaithful husband of Gwen, a woman who lives in Bertram's building. Frank needs Bertram to separate Gwen from her new self-righteous do-gooder fiancé, and if Bertram can accomplish this Frank will make all the other ghosts go away.

Greg Kinnear and the wonderful Tea Leoni round out the lead characters as Frank and Gwen. All three (Gervais, Kinnear, and Leoni) get big laughs and are utterly charming. Indeed, it is no overstatement to call Ghost Town riotously funny- the laughs come big and often. Too often it turns out, because when Ghost Town tries to stray into the more dramatic or tender areas of the story it feels somewhat awkward and forced. The mistake was made of focusing too much on broad hilarity, so that when the movie really attempts to focus on story it seems strange that the humor is suddenly gone. The film never becomes anything more than just a silly little trifle.

Yet there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. What we get is a thoroughly entertaining tale with a fascinating lead character. Add in the performances of the three leads and you have a fully satisfying movie-going experience. I would probably give this film a 7.5 rating, but since that isn't allowed and I'm not feeling an 8, I'll go with- 7/10 stars!!!

Jay Addison

While this movie is comedy, it's not really a major "laugh-fest" or anything - but it is very well done and interesting to watch. If you're a fan of Ricky Gervais, he's only an actor here, not the writer or producer - so don't expect lots of Gervais-inspired humor. However, do expect a clever and charming romantic comedy.

Basically, the movie is about a dentist (Gervais) who temporarily dies during a routine medical procedure. This experience gives him the ability to see all the dead people who are milling about. One of them is resourceful enough to get Gervais' character to interfere with his former wife's engagement ... and the story progresses from there.

Gervais puts in a great performance as the socially repugnant dentist. Unpleasant as he is, he's fun to watch and you want to see what his every next move will be. Greg Kinnear (who plays the ghost pressuring Gervais) does a good job too; he's pretty believable in his role. The other characters are more or less one-dimensional and not quite as interesting. However, together with Gervais and Kinnear, everyone more or less of shines.

While the story is a bit predictable, the interesting characters, charming nature of the tale and all-around quality of movie-making make this film worth a watch.

David Koepp (director) did some good stuff here... it's a very good balance between a romantic movie and comedy movie... not too much weighted to either side. Who would have thought that one of the guys who wrote the story/plot for "Jurassic Park", would also be responsible for a movie like this?

The acting is pretty good and the 3 'heavies' in the cast (Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni and Greg Kinnear) all deliver good performances for each of their characters.

Overall it's a good, light-hearted movie, that deals with the heavy subject matter (death) in a funny and non-serious way. It almost makes fun of death, as much of the comedy in the movie is derived from people who are dead, being stuck in the clothes that they had on when they died for eternity... so you died in your underpants? That's what you'll be wearing for eternity.