Ghost Town

Though it’s not difficult to predict precisely where the film is going at any given time, Ghost Town largely manages to hold one’s interest due almost entirely to the efforts of star Ricky Gervais. Gervais’ irresistibly sarcastic persona, cultivated on shows like The Office and Extras, is in full force here, and it’s subsequently difficult not to smile (at the very least) at most of his line readings. The storyline follows Gervais’ Bertram Pincus, a people-hating dentist, as he finds himself cursed with an ability to interact with dead people, which instantly makes him a target for a series of walking apparitions looking to complete their unfinished business. The most insistent of said ghosts is Greg Kinnear’s Frank Herlihy, who worries that his former wife (Tea Leoni’s Gwen) is about the marry a very bad guy (Billy Campbell’s Richard). Director and cowriter David Koepp has infused Ghost Town with a bright and vibrant sense of style that certainly suits the material, although it’s hard to deny that the pace is occasionally a little too relaxed for its own good. Yet the movie remains watchable even through the sporadic lulls within the narrative, something that’s due almost entirely to Gervais’ almost ridiculously entertaining performance. The film even manages to make an unexpected emotional impact on the viewer late in the proceedings, with an undeniably affecting montage sure to leave most viewers with a lump in their throat. Ghost Town is, ultimately, a purely entertaining diversion that comes off as a refreshing change of pace from the gloomy, deliberately-paced fare that tends to dominate film festivals.

*** out of ****