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 In cinemas Thursday [M]
Director: David Koepp
Runtime: 102mins
Does everything Ricky Gervais touch turn to gold? Sure, on the small screen, ‘The wig, the glasses, the catchphrase,’ may be ‘Brilliant,’ – but what about his forgettable silver screen cameo in A Night At The Museum? At a neat 102 minutes, Ghost Town acts as the perfect vehicle for Gervais to unequivocally prove whether he possesses the goods to carry off a Hollywood lead.
In Ghost Town, Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a misanthropic, rich Upper-East Side dentist who likes his patients as he likes his life – quiet and uncomplicated. Fortunately his profession only requires the most superficial level of interaction with the rest of humanity and even then their incessant babble can be silenced with a wad of cotton wool.
However, when a botched, routine hospital procedure leaves Bertram clinically dead for seven minutes, he wakes to discover his irritation with the living is only surpassed by his dislike for the dead, who, armed with a bevy unfinished business, hound him for help. Leading the charge of the deceased is Frank (Greg Kinnear), who strikes a deal with Bertram – break up the impending marriage of Frank’s widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) and Frank promises to get Manhattan’s spirit population off Bertram’s back. Shadowed by Frank, Bertram clumsily attempts to charm archeologist Gwen into uncertainty about her engagement and inevitably falls for her in the process.
Yes, it’s a rom-com, but relatively cheese-free, bar Leoni’s occasional and unfortunate line of sentimental tosh: “We only get one life. What we do matters.” Don’t let that put you off, though, Ghost Town is a shining example of how to get the genre right – the wit is sharp and the romance sweet. Director and co-writer David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull) does a good job of keeping Ghost Town out of You’ve Got Mail territory, shooting Autumnal Manhattan sparsely and casting supporting actors well (look out for a hilarious cameo by Kristen Wiig as Gervais’ spray-tan loving doctor). Leoni does a superb job as leading lady, generating real chemistry when bouncing off Gervais’ oft ad-libbed, dryly delivered lines.
The success of Ghost Town however, rests squarely on the shoulders of Gervais, who masterfully transforms Bertram from a people-hating curmudgeon to the jerk you can’t help but like. The inevitable redemption process is sweet enough to appeal to softies, but not so saccharine that cynics will cry schmaltz. Plus, the ending has a nice little surprise and manages to avoid the usual Hollywood formula. So, if it’s a light, feel-good fun-fest you’re after, you won’t find much to fault here.
***½
CAMILLA JONES
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