Ghost Town Review

In the film Ghost Town Dr. Bertram Pincus (Gervais) hates people. In fact, this dentist so dislikes small talk that he shoves lots of utensils into his patients' mouths if they tend to chat too much.

He is so unpleasant that he berates his doorman, steals cabs from women and sneaks away to avoid a toast to the new baby of his dental colleague, Dr. Prashar (Mandvi). So, it's not a surprise that when a seemingly incompetent surgeon (Wiig) tells him that he doesn't need anesthesia for his colonoscopy, she acquiesces when he insists.

Just after being released from the hospital, however, Dr. Pincus sees dead people. They follow him around, talk to him and ask him to do favors for their loved ones. He soon discovers that he had a near-death experience while in the hospital, and that the ghosts he sees are real. Those odd spirits include a biker who wants to get his girlfriend to wear a helmet, a father who wants his son to find a lost teddy bear, a naked guy who just seems irritating and an old woman (Ivey) who wants her daughter to find a note she left behind.

One of the more persistent spirits is Frank (Kinnear), who was hit by a bus and is trying to stop his widow, Gwen (Leoni), from marrying again. They cook up a scheme that will get Gwen distracted from her new fiance, but then Pincus finds out he's falling for her himself. Can he steal the girl from this dead guy, and will the spirits leave him alone?

Blithe Spit-up

It looks at first as if this is a send-up of Noel Coward's funny play and movie Blithe Spirit, following a triad that involves a ghost. But this modern version can't be updated without some silly bowel humor, like Gervais' character nearly throwing up when Gwen's dog expels too much gas, and then he almost upchucks again when the big dog relieves itself as they attempt a romantic walk along the streets of Manhattan.

Gervais portrays the Seth Rogen-like schlub in Ghost Town ,who somehow ends up getting the girl even though he has no redeeming qualities, and he brings his take-no-prisoners sense of humor to the role as the Grinch-like dentist. His characterization, however, is a bit uneven. At one point he steals a woman's cab in the pouring rain, and then suddenly he buys a new shirt when he goes on a first date with Leoni's character (and she politely ignores the price tag on the back collar). Even with those tender and nice touches, the motivation of Dr. Pincus is often baffling and irritating.

Koepp and Kamps, who expanded a children's book to write Zathura for the big screen together, came up with some great mythologies for ghosts. For example, when you have those unexplainable sneezes, it's because you've walked through a ghost. And rather than ghosts being tethered to the real world because they have unfinished business, the spirits are lingering around because someone in the real world can't let them go. Again, nice touches.

For some reason, though, Ghost Town doesn't know what it wants to be. It veers from schmaltzy romance to laugh-out-loud wacky comedy (particularly the scenes between Gervais and Saturday Night Live's Wiig), and that unevenness is as unnerving as Dr. Pincus is unpleasant.

Gervais proves that he can hold his own as a leading man in the ever-growing "schlub romantic comedy" genre, but this big comedic powerhouse surrounded by ghosts seems a bit thin.

-Mike