Reader Recommendation: Ghost Town (2008)

Today I picked Ghost Town out at random from the list of recommendations having zero clue as to what it was or who was in it. Quite a nice surprise for me when I learned it starred Ricky Gervais, who I've never seen in a movie besides the bit role in Night at the Museum. Ghost Town is about Pincus, a dentist who lives a solitary life and, most importantly, hates people. All people. He doesn't even like to talk to people, let alone be around them. But after a routine colonoscopy, he finds he can now see and talk to ghosts, and they want his help. My impressions after the jump!


Having never really seen Ricky Gervais in his own film before, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I'd seen ads for The Invention of Lying, and that tv show he does, Extras, and I'd also heard about his time hosting the Golden Globes. So I wasn't sure if he did really rude humour or more family friendly stuff. Turns out this was the family friendly kind. He seems to play the plain boring everyman that lets you sort of relate to the character, but has moments of brilliant comedy to keep you amused. I really liked his performance and I've already added The Invention of Lying to my list of movies I want to see.

But this is more than just a Ricky Gervais comedy, this is also a romance movie... with ghosts. The love interest of the movie is Gwen, played by Téa Leoni. You might remember her from Deep Impact. And how does this relate to the ghosts? Well at the start of the movie we get to see her lovely jerk of a husband bite the big one, and it's primarily this ghost who Pincus is trying to help. All the ghosts in the movie have unfinished business that has to be dealt with, but while trying to help her husband, he begins to fall in love himself. The story and how it all falls into place I thought worked really well and everything just fit together into a charming story of love and ghosts. The perfect mix really.

There are a lot of ghosts that need his help besides the husband.

There's not much to say other than it's a fun premise, Ricky Gervais is great, Téa Leoni is great, her husband is an annoying jerk as he's supposed to be, and the comedy and romance aspects both work really well together. I particularly liked the character arc of Pincus as we see him change through the movie and have a nice touching life lesson. I really liked this movie and I'm really glad I watched it. Definitely worth seeing in my opinion.