After a botched colonoscopy becomes a near-fatal experience, comedian Ricky Gervais (best known from the British version of “The Office”) can see dead people. But unlike Haley Joel Osment and Whoopi Goldberg before him, Gervais’ snide dentist character Bertram Pincus also hates live people. So it is especially unpleasant for him and a source of humor for us when his close encounters of the apparitional kind force him to become a bridge between the two realms in “Ghost Town.”
Though never fully uproarious, the supernatural romantic comedy works to the extent that it does thanks almost exclusively to the snarky jocularity and likeability of the great English comedian. Gervais is a blithe spirit on small screen and large, even when shilling derivative material that’s merely adequate, like today’s offering.
Heaven can wait, and you will have to, as well — because the conventional narrative, in this paranormal subgenre periodically revisited by Hollywood since 1937’s “Topper,” moves at a snail’s pace. In his first stab at comedy, director and co-writer David Koepp has little feel for the snappy energy it requires. It’s not surprising that “Ghost Town’s” dramatic moments are often more effective, since Koepp honed his career scripting movies like “Spider-Man.”
Fortunately for the filmmaker, he has recruited a team of veteran clowns. Greg Kinnear plays the cad Frank Herlihy. Early in the film, Frank gets hit by a bus. As a ghost with unfinished business on Earth, he roams New York City mired in guilt for cheating and otherwise mistreating his loyal wife Gwen (Tea Leoni). Imagine Frank’s delight when he and the other ghosts stuck in the city in need of closure discover Dr. Pincus can actually see and hear them.
But of all the possible mediums, theirs is a misanthropic hermit. Pincus will have to be compelled to be an intermediary to the mortals they have left behind and help free up the troubled poltergeists. That starts to happen when Pincus meets, and soon falls in love with, Frank’s widow Gwen.
Through his feelings for Gwen, Pincus slowly discovers that it is a wonderful life. But will the revelation happen too late for him to win her? In this “Ghost Town,” the sweet moments in his transformation tend to register stronger than the farcically sour ones do.
If you go
‘Ghost Town’
3 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni
Director: David Koepp
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, sexual humor and drug references.
Running Time: 102 minutes
