The Three Potatoes

17th March 2009
Ghost Town (2008)

Writers: David Koepp & John Kamps
Director: David Koepp
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni

Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a dentist who likes to keep to himself. He is single, friendless, and goes about his life with as little human interaction as possible. When an operation goes awry, he develops an ability to see dead people. Frank (Kinnear) is one particularly annoying ghost who wants Pincus to interfere with his widow Gwen's new relationship. Pincus decides the best way of doing that is to woo her himself.

I am excited about how much I like this movie! It is such an Immensely likable film. The characters were not drawn in black and white, but instead had a balance of humanity, honesty and great fun. Pincus is a wonderful character, I couldn't stop smiling at pretty much everything that escaped his mouth. His expressions were fabulously comic. It's unfair to say everything Gervais does is like him - I would only say it is such a Gervais character because he is uniquely funny, incredibly well delivered and so much fun to watch. Leoni is wonderfully natural, so easily slipping into this character she seems to truly burst into laughter at Pincus' jokes. The doctors are so odd and joyfully funny. That one scene when he returns to the hospital to speak with the surgeon was so well done I thought I was going to die.

The familiar, slightly cheesy premise is not going to delight everyone but this execution sure tickled my fancy.

Read Alaris' review of Ghost Town (2008).