MARK FOKER GHOST TOWN DVD REVIEW (From Surrey Comet)

MARK FOKER GHOST TOWN DVD REVIEW

1:47pm Thursday 26th March 2009

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Now I have to admit this review could have been a little biased as I am a big fan of Ricky Gervais. I also worry a little bit about him getting typecast as the ‘novelty Brit that has become fashionable to have in your next movie’.

However, I think that he has chosen a nice understated film that shows that he can be quite convincing as a romantic lead, as unlikely as it might sound. In fact the film put me in mind of one of those Cary Grant or David Niven comedies.

In Ghost Town Ricky Gervais plays a character called Bertram Pincus who is initially quite obnoxious and unlikable. Bertram is a British dentist practising in New York who is a bit of a loner and has no time for other people, even his work colleagues just seem to be an annoyance to him. God forbid that he is actually drawn into a conversation with another human being.

While having a routine colonoscopy operation in hospital he actually dies on the operating table for seven minutes. After recovering from this procedure the hospital omit to tell him of this little incident as they fear a lawsuit could be on the cards. The result of this mishap gives Bertram the unwanted ability of being able to see dead people (all the time!) In a familiar scenario each of the dead apparitions has unfinished business on earth and needs his help to cross over to the other side.

There is one particularly well dressed ghost Frank (Greg Kinnear) who was recently knocked down by a bus and acts as a sort of spokesperson for the other ghosts. Actually, he monopolises Bertram to help solve his own issues such as making sure that his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) doesn’t marry a particularly slimy ‘to good to be true’ lawyer. The audience are not quite so convinced that this is his unfinished business as he is no angel himself (well not yet anyway) and he cheated on Gwen in the living world…why would you cheat on Tea Leoni?

It just so happens that Bertram lives in the same apartment as Frank and Gwen and with the threat of being haunted by Frank for the rest of his life, (in a annoying rather than scary way) he succumbs to being a conduit for Frank to vent his feelings to his wife. However, even though Bertram never really noticed Gwen as a person before and was rude to her on many an occasion even shutting the elevator door in her face. He was now starting to fall in love with her much to Frank’s annoyance.

While all this is going on the other ghost’s are still chasing after Bertram with their hard luck stories and pleading for his help. There are some really good comedy moments when the ghosts keep appearing in the most inconvenient places. It’s not belly laughs all the way through but some good lines and Ricky Gervais is always good value for money. I could quite easily watch it again.

Just one last comment. Although this is clearly Ricky’s film, Greg Kinnear is fast growing into one of Americas more popular actors. He was great as the gay neighbour and foil to Jack Nicholson’s OCD character in As Good As it Gets and even better as Richard, the pain in the butt Dad with his ‘nine step plan for winners’ in Little Miss Sunshine still one of my favourite movies, yet to be reviewed.