Ghost Town

Copyright 2008, DreamWorks Pictures

I've mentioned Ricky Gervais a couple of times previously on this blog, and the same with his first major film, 2008's Ghost Town. And, after having finally buying it on Blu-ray, I've decided that I was remiss in not making it one of my choices for Box Office Prophets' Calvin Awards as one of the most overlooked films of the year and one of the best. Yes, if you go back to the beginning, you'll find that I chose it as one of the best of 2008 on this blog, but not the same on BOP. My mistake stands, and I'll do my best to rectify it here, by stating as clearly as possible how great a comedy this was, how brilliant Gervais was, and all the rest.

That Ghost Town does not have a particularly surprising plot, something knotted with twists, is not a strike against it. Rather, what's so impressive about this film, directed and co-written by famed scribe David Koepp (he of Jurassic Park, Spider-Man and Panic Room), is how it frequently impresses in spite of its relatively formulaic plot and concept. With strong performances not only from Gervais but from Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear, the rest falls into places, formula or not.

Ricky Gervais, of course, is not a completely unfamiliar face to most audiences, even they're not truly sure why they know who he is. For most people in America, he may be recognizable thanks to his many appearances on talk shows hosted by David Letterman or Jon Stewart, or because of his two TV shows, The Office and Extras. Maybe it's his brilliant podcasts, or even his cameos in big-budget movies such as Stardust or Night At The Museum. However, the first film to try and fit Gervais' brittle and purposely awkward persona to more than just a five-minute character is Ghost Town.

Gervais is Bertram Pincus, a dentist in New York City who hates people. He loves his job, mostly because once a patient sits down in the chair, they can't (or shouldn't) be talking to him. Pincus is reserved and unwilling to talk to anyone, even his dentist colleague (Aasif Mandvi, from The Daily Show). The real story starts when he gets a colonoscopy that goes so wrong that he dies for over six minutes. After being brought back to life, Pincus finds that he has the truly unwelcome ability to see dead people, dead people who have unfinished business that only he can help with. The pushiest one is Frank (Kinnear), who died just after having to explain to his wife, Gwen (Leoni), that the apartment he was planning to move in to with his mistress was really a surprise for her. Frank won't let Pincus go without a fight, so Pincus has no choice but to help Frank out with a task: convince Gwen, in some way, to not re-marry.

Of course, romance does ensue between Pincus and Gwen, there are complications, he has to tell her his big secret, and so forth. What works here more than in most films is the crackling chemistry between the three leads, mostly coaxed out by Gervais' humor and charm. Ghost Town is a rare film, in that there are sequences in the movie where Gervais makes a wisecrack and another character actually laughs. In fact, one dinner sequence with Gervais and Leoni features so many giggles from the latter actor, it appears very obvious that the scene is no longer between two characters, but two actors. It's actually refreshing to see people laugh in a comedy, laugh realistically, laugh at something or someone who's funny. Gervais is just that, laugh-out-loud funny. Even in the early scenes, where we see how much of a hermit Pincus is and how much he doesn't want to have a colonoscopy, Gervais shines. Despite the comedy toning down a bit in the final 20 minutes or so, there's no way to damp out the performance he's giving, especially as he sells the drama of his character as well as the comedy. Anyone familiar with his television work knows how easily he can make comedy turn into tragedy. Nothing is as painfully sad in Ghost Town as in, say, The Office, but there's no question that when Pincus explains why he has become such a shell of a man, we buy it; we even buy his last-minute pleading to Gwen, as formulaic as it may be.

As I mentioned above, the entire cast shines here. Kinnear, usually stuck playing flat straight men, gets a good chance to bring out the pricklier side as Frank, a guy who usually gets what he wants and acts out when the opposite happens. Leoni, an actress who I'm usually not the biggest fan of, is quite luminous here as a paleontologist with a strong sense of humor, even if her dour fiance's lacking in that department (Bill Campbell, worth a few laughs here). Still, much of the humor of this film comes from Pincus dealing with the dead; whether it's Kinnear or a naked man accosting him while he's trying to talk to Gwen, Pincus's constant attempts to not sound completely insane while talking to people only he can see often bring out the best comedy in the movie.

If you have not seen Ghost Town, you really must rent it. I'd imagine most Gervais fans have seen the film, but if you're one of the few who might want to avoid it as, for example, Gervais isn't the credited writer on the project, take heart: there's more than enough of the best Ricky Gervais has to offer here. Whether you find it on pay cable or on Blu-ray/DVD, seek this one out. There were more overlooked movies in 2008 simply because they were independently released, but Ghost Town, as I said earlier this week, was the most overlooked mainstream movie of last year, and a great one to boot.