Ghost Town

In case you didn't already know (and if you've been reading this blog lately how could you not?) I put Ricky Gervais in the running for Funniest Person on the Planet. His work as co-creator, co-writer, and star of "The Office" and "Extras" has cemented his position as a comic genius. As far as films go he's only taken a few bit parts. He has a few great scenes in the very funny "For Your Consideration" and he's the saving grace of the otherwise awful "Stardust." With "Ghost Town," co-written and directed by David Koepp, Gervais takes his first starring film role in a part that was just made to order for him.
Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a dentist, which is perfect for him as it allows him to physically make people shut up. For Pincus hell truly is other people. He displays his contempt for those around him by stealing cabs, shutting the elevator door (on the same woman no less), and berating a charge nurse for asking him "irrelevant" questions, such as, "Do you drink alcohol?" His annoyance with the human race only deepens as he heads into surgery with a doctor (the always funny Kristen Wiig) who seems a little more interested in discussing her tan than the job at hand.
After he gets out of surgery he realizes something is not quite right. He complains to his surgeon about hallucinations and demands to know if anything unusual happened during the surgery. In a very funny scene, the surgeon and the hospital's lawyer explain that he died for seven minutes. Well, "a bit less."
On top of this revelation his life takes an Osmentonian turn. He can see dead people. (The word "Osmentonian" is officially trademarked by Bob.) All of them need something from him because as philanderer Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) explains, "New York is silly with dead people. They're all pushy...just like when they were alive." Frank knows what he's talking about. He's been deceased for a year. Pincus doesn't like the dead any more than the living, Frank least of all. But he's willing to do Frank one favor due to the promise that, "If you do this one thing for me you'll never see any of us ever again." His task? To keep Frank's widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) from marrying "a real jerk," uber-humanitarian Richard (Bill "The Rocketeer" Campbell). Pincus takes on the mission and before long Frank realizes that the bitter dentist has a heart after all when he falls for Gwen.
Romantic comedies are not known for being full of surprises in terms of the storyline and "Ghost Town" really isn't an exception. What makes this movie work like a good romantic comedy should is that we actually like and care about these characters. The screenplay by Koepp and John Kamps is very clever and they manage to make what could have been a saccharine ending truly moving. This is also thanks to the casting, which is spot on. Gervais makes the transformation of Pincus believable and no one is funnier trying to squirm out of an awkward situation. I can't imagine any other actor doing a better job with this character. Leoni is very good in an underwritten role, breathing life into the widow who clearly deserves better than she'd had with Frank. Kinnear meanwhile shows how well he plays a cad. In spite of Frank's many shortcomings we can't help but like him.
"Ghost Town" is a very enjoyable and funny film that you can take your mom to and shows that Ricky Gervais is a viable lead on the big screen. 7.5/10.

In other Ricky Gervais news word on the street is that the Oscar people are trying to get Britain's funniest export to host the big night. All I can say is I really hope this happens. And if it doesn't work out then bring Steve Martin back.

And just because I'm determined to get more people to see the work of Ricky Gervais here's another clip from the hilarious "Extras."