Tribune

Ghost Town
US 2008
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear
Director: David Koepp

RICKY GERVAIS’ career hit a rare speed bump last month when his debut Hollywood vehicle Ghost Town unexpectedly stalled at the American box-office. The picture might be expected to do better on his home turf, but it’s hard to imagine admirers of Gervais’ snarkily envelope-pushing humour embracing such a thoroughly by-the-numbers, mainstream-oriented romantic comedy.

A jowly-looking Gervais is Bertram Pincus, a middle-aged, misanthropic British dentist in Manhattan who suffers a mishap during a routine operation that leaves him able both to see and converse with the recently deceased – each of whom have some kind of pressing unfinished business involving their loved ones. Lone-wolf Pincus isn’t best pleased at being suddenly in demand from such spectral supplicants, including dapper Frank (Greg Kinnear), who wants him to save his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) from the embrace of a supposedly unsuitable suitor.

Writers David Koepp and John Kamps have cobbled together ideas from numerous forerunners stretching all the way back to the three Topper movies from 1938-41 and, more recently, The Sixth Sense. The tagline of the poster in the United States is: “He sees dead people – and they annoy him.” But they don’t come up with anything sufficiently distinctive to make their variation stand out from the pack. Ghost Town is amusing rather that laugh-out-loud funny, taking the sappily sentimental route of Hollywood uplift rather than exploring the riskier territory where Gervais excels.

Koepp’s screenplay credits include numerous blockbusters – including the latest Indiana Jones romp – but, as a director, (most recently 2004’s Secret Window), he tends surprisingly to lack much of an authorial stamp. Kinnear, who can play this kind of role in his sleep, is never remotely stretched, while the supporting cast makes lukewarm impact. There’s also a distracting September 11 subtext – the geographical setting, the beyond-the-grave communication – that gives the movie an opportunistic look.

It’s unfortunate that Gervais, although presumably encouraged to improvise many of his lines, doesn’t seem to have had much input into the screenplay here – whereas on his next American project, This Side of the Truth, he’s also co-writer and co-director. Ghost Town, therefore, looks rather like a learning-the-ropes experience for the star: one that only his most fervent fans need to catch in cinemas rather than via its imminent DVD afterlife.

Neil Young