A change of pace for director and co-writer David Koepp, whose screenplays tend to run along the epic lines of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Spider-Man and War of the Worlds, Ghost Town offers a winning mix of sharp comedy and touching bits that keeps the laughter — and a few tears — flowing.
It follows a time-honoured formula but with the sardonic Ricky Gervais on hand to keep the pathos in check, you’ve got a spirited crowd-pleaser that’s destined to be one of the biggest hits of the season.
Newfound ability
Gervais is Bertram Pincus, a misanthropic New York dentist, whose near-death experience during a hospital procedure leaves him with a newfound ability: He can see dead people.
Lots of them — all wandering around with unfinished business. And they’re turning to him as their liaison to the living.
The most persistent among them is Greg Kinnear’s Frank Herlihy, who badgers Pincus into busting up the relationship between his widow (Tea Leoni) and her new beau (Billy Campbell).
We all know how this is going to turn out but Ghost Town retains enough of that wry edge to make it seem fresh.
Working in that proven Ghost/Heaven Can Wait arena, Koepp and frequent collaborator John Kamps keep the funny stuff coming at a nimble pace.
And while the emotional shift has a life-changing effect on Pincus’s cynical demeanor, one wishes he would’ve retained a little more of that caustic bite.
However, Gervais succeeds in not only elevating the material but inducing his talented co-stars to up their comedy game accordingly.
