Seriously? Another movie about a mortal who can see dead people? Great. Add it to the list. After all, what actor could possibly manage to make such a hackneyed premise remotely enjoyable?
Oh. Right. Ricky Gervais.
If I'd said I was looking forward to seeing Ghost Town in the hours before I arrived at the theater, I would have meant it in the sense that I enjoy attending the cinema, regardless of how silly the film I'm seeing may be. There was just one aspect of the movie, which is about a man who dies temporarily during routine surgery and is then able to converse with the dead, that appealed to me: its star.
Mr. Gervais more than manages to bring this film up above my (admittedly low) expectations. In fact, his unfailingly dry humor manages to turn a romantic comedy about ghosts into a frequently funny joke at the expense of his jerkwad character, Bertram Pincus, who is desperately in need of reform. That reform comes in the form of a sleazy adulterer (Frank Herlihy, played by Kinnear) who happens to be dead. Once he realizes Pincus can see him, Frank uses his wheeler-dealer skills to convince Pincus that he must convince Herlihy's ex-wife not to remarry. Yeah, it sounds complicated, but it's not. Except for the ghosts. That part I can't explain.
It seems that Gervais's secret – play a jerk, make the audience love him anyway, and make as many self-deprecating jokes as possible – is a winning one. While co-stars Kinnear (ghost-husband instigator) and Téa Leoni (alive-wife love interest) serve their purpose in Ghost Town, it is Gervais who takes the film from passable to genuinely enjoyable.
But it's still about seeing dead people. Give me a break.
Such a nice post, its really interesting, really admire your work, to have some more of it. I will definitely watch this movie. Thanks.
Posted by: Predators Movie | July 14, 2010 at 02:20 AM