Ever since first watching BBC’s “The Office” I have considered Ricky Gervais to be comedy gold. I have tried to share my love for his comedy with others only to be, for the most part, turned away. It seems Gervais’ comedy is something of an acquired taste and I can understand where most folks are coming from. For a long time I didn’t think British humor was all that funny. It was too dry and the wit didn’t really hit home. And I realize British humor is an acquired taste, not something you grow into, but Ghost Town may be the film to ease Americans into Gervais’ charm. As much as Gervais’ performance in Ghost Town reminds me of his performance as David Brent on “The Office”, I think the supporting cast of American actors should warm up stateside audiences to what is truly a funny film.
Gervais stars as Bertram Pincus D.D.S., a man that is quite fond of leading a secluded life. When asked if he doesn’t like crowds he says, “I don’t mind crowds; it’s the people in them that bother me.” Unfortunately for Pincus he soon gets a bit more company than he has ever desired after an anesthetic mishap during a colonoscopy earning him a brief bout with death. A death giving him the ability to see dead people, and as the tagline says, “and they annoy him.” Maybe the best way to describe it is to say they ask him for favors that will allow them to pass on into the afterlife. You can obviously see the dilemma and the comedic angle.
Greg Kinnear plays a ghost trying to ruin his wife’s engagement by using Pincus to form a wedge in her relationship. By helping, Pincus is promised the other ghosts will leave him alone and will stop asking for help.
Ghost Town is a comedy with a romantic twist, but a comedy first and foremost. The ghosts are never used to scare the audience, only for comedic effect. This allows the film to focus more on Pincus’ personal flaws, the relationship he has with others and the budding relationship between he and Gwen (Tea Leoni), the wife whose engagement he has promised to break-up.
The film never sinks too far into the sap, it keeps its comedy edge by only dwindling into the cliché near the end for its moment of personal redemption, but it offers up enough twists and surprises along the way to make any unoriginal moments forgivable. Writers David Koepp and John Kamps seem to have made a concerted effort to even spice up the more traditional moments of a film like this with a few zigs along the way to keep you off guard.
The major criticism has to do with the level of annoyance Kinnear’s character is allowed to apply on both Pincus and the audience, a delicate line to walk for sure. While there are times when you just wish Kinnear would disappear for good, the audience is allowed some redemption in the scenes that follow when he finally is absent.
Ghost Town isn’t a perfect flick, but it is certainly one of the funnier films of the year so far. From the films I have seen I would rank this just below Tropic Thunder and certainly above Pineapple Express. The benefit to Ghost Town is the lack of dick and fart jokes and the concentration on real comedy, something Gervais adds simply with his performance. It just goes to show a real comedian can be funny with words, not by simply showing audiences his genitalia.
B
