"GHOST TOWN"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: *** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Ricky Gervais as BERTRAM PINCUS Greg Kinnear as FRANK HERLIHY Téa Leoni as GWEN Rated PG-13 Studio: DreamWorks Directed by: David Koepp Back to DVD Review Home |  |
I’ll be the first to admit that the material you’ll find in “Ghost Town” isn’t really all that new. We’ve seen the friendly ghost movies (e.g., “Ghost”) as much as we’ve seen the not-so-friendly ones. And with a glut of movies about characters that see dead people that followed “The Sixth Sense,” the roads in “Ghost Town” have been traveled quite a bit.
But that’s the magical thing about cinema, and especially comedies... just because something has been done before doesn’t mean that it won’t work again.
This film tells the story of an acerbic Manhattan dentist named Bertram Pincus, played by the comedian extraordinaire Ricky Gervais. He hates people, which is why he became a dentist. Not only can he hurt people and get paid for it, when he’s working inside their mouths, they can’t talk to him.
However, after a routine colonoscopy, Pincus dies for seven minutes, and when he wakes up, he discovers that he can see ghosts. Now, he has to listen to people talk all the time. One of the ghosts is a man named Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), who convinces Pincus to help him sabotage the new relationship of his widow Gwen (Téa Leoni). Reluctantly, Pincus agrees to help, but he ends up falling in love with Gwen himself.
“Ghost Town” didn’t score that well at the box office in its initial theatrical release, and that’s a shame. The film has an awful lot of heart, and it really works wonders as an off-beat romantic comedy. The fact that it stars a lesser known Brit (at least to Americans) rather than Reese Witherspoon (who did her own ghost rom com a few years back) probably hurt it a bit.
And while “Ghost Town” doesn’t necessarily work for the American mainstream the way that Witherspoon’s “Just Like Heaven” did, it is still a nice little slice of humor and romance that can work for a date night at home with the DVD player.
David Koepp, who is best know for writing huge blockbuster action movies like “Jurassic Park” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” directs this movie. As a director, Koepp handles the smaller scope of this film rather well, letting the natural comedians do their work on screen and editing things together at the end.
The real strength of the film is the cast, and it’s a rare thing for everyone to work as well as they do in this film. Not only do Gervais, Kinnear and Leoni all fit well as the main characters, the supporting cast is great as well, including a hilarious appearance by Kristen Wiig as the doctor who accidentally killed Pincus during his colonoscopy.
The DVD of “Ghost Town” comes with a commentary by director David Koepp and actor Ricky Gervais. There’s also a short making-of featurette as well as a spotlight on the ghost effects and how the filmmakers tried to tone them down and not make them too spectacular. Finally, there’s a bit of fun with the “Some People Can Do It,” which serves as a lengthy gag reel.
Recently, a critics organization in which I vote named “Ghost Town” the best overlooked film of 2008. That spot was richly deserved, I though, and I’m proud to have cast a vote for it myself.
