Ghost TownGhost Town is the latest offering by Ricky Gervais (as an actor), of the British "The Office" and "Extras" fame. You can almost envision an "Extra" episode poking fun at Ghost Town as a predictable, not all that exciting, release. It is an enjoyable, if somewhat manipulative film about a dentist that has an accident while in surgery and is then dead for seven minutes. When he wakes up, he can see dead people (shades of TheSixth Sense and Ghost). Even though the plot is somewhat predictable, the movie was still a pleasant afternoon.
Ghost Town was directed by David Koepp. David is also one of two writers listed on this movie. A couple of the movies that Koepp has previously directed were Stir of Echoes (1999) and Secret Window (2004), with Johnny Depp from the Stephen King novel. If you were looking at his directing credits (not so much his writing efforts) Koepp would seem an odd choice for this particular movie, but the movie flows well, and sticks close to the basic plot without going off on a lot of aimless tangents.
I must confess I am a huge Gervais fan, so I was looking forward to this movie. In Ghost Town Ricky Gervais is on screen for almost the entire movie. He plays a grumpy misanthrope dentist, who stuffs things into his patient's mouth just so he will not have to hear them jabber on, who is then stricken with this gift/curse to have the power to see dead people. One problem with Ricky Gervais is that as an actor he doesn't seem to have a huge range, though as a comic actor I think he is brilliant. I really enjoy seeing him nailing down the little day-to-day annoyances that crop up (and he can be found on either the receiving end or the giving end). Ghost Town is not a huge effects movie, but instead a very laid-back gentle comedy. The film probably would not have been half as good if it had not starred Gervais, the part seems like it was written specifically for him (maybe it was), and fits like a glove.
 Ghost Town is extremely well cast, with Greg Kinnear, playing a recently deceased cheating husband, bringing more depth to the role than perhaps what was written on the actual page. Téa Leoni also puts in a very nice performance as the romantic interest and recent widow. The movie is well acted, though the little ghost extra parts don't really make the impact that they might of. The movie includes a bit of the feel-good-type-message movie, but this part is kept on a short leash, so it never quite made me reach for the barf bag though that element is there especially towards the end. There are a few elements of black comedy thrown in here and there, but overall Ghost Town attempts to walk a middle ground without veering off too far in one direction or another (though Ghost Town does have a lot of elements that can be found in the earlier Ghost).
You can write to James Harper at movielover77061@yahoo.com |
