Flick of The Day: Ghost Town

It would be fair to say that the romantic comedy has a bad reputation, much of it rightly earned. It is often the victim of lazy filmmaking, of big name actors phoning in a performance and of studios eager for a money spinner. However it is a genre with a fine history stretching back to the dawn of cinema. From the timeless It Happened One Night to Billy Wilder's Sabrina and Woody Allen's Annie Hall, it has always been a genre rich in talent and it is only recently that it has become a watch word for mediocrity. Today's flick of the day, Ghost Town, is the exception that proves the rule.

Ghost Town

Ricky Gervais, one of the latest in a grand history of British comedians to seek his fortune on the big screen makes a very fine debut in his first Hollywood role as Bertram Pincus, a dentist with a loathing for his fellow man. He is uniformly nasty to all who have the misfortune to cross his path. Gervais plays an insufferable prick to a tee. While in hospital for a routine operation, Bertram dies (briefly) on the operating table, and when he gets home he realizes that something is amiss. People follow him everywhere, asking him for help with their problems. It soon becomes apparent that Bertram can see and communicate with the dead and he is none too pleased.  Bertram thankfully has the recently deceased Greg Kinnear on hand to guide him through the spirit world. Kinnear excels as a womanising cad, who feels he has unfinished business. He convinces Pincus to intercede with his grieving wife, the lovely Tea Leoni, and break up her relationship with her new beau, ostensibly because Kinnear believes him to be a gold digger. Of course this is just a way for him to stay involved in his widow's life. Ultimately, Pincus has to find redemption and come to the realisation that life is their to be led not stored up.

What separates this film from the chaff, apart from the fine performances of the leads is the heart at the centre of this story and the fact that it is told with more then a degree of soul. It gets to the heart of the matter and is far more substantial a story then it seems at first. In any one else's hands, the role of Bertram Pincus would be an easy hate figure, but Gervais is a fine talent and he creates a sympathetic figure. It becomes obvious as the film goes one that Bertram is not alone by choice and that his hatred of the world as he holes up in his New York apartment stems from loss. His heart has been hardened and the film is as much about his opening up as anything else.

A simple and familiar tale then, told with panache and well acted characters. There is a lot to like here and I am sure anyone who sees it will leave the cinema feeling better, if only a little. There are some great funny lines in the film and Gervais and his fellow cast exploit them for all their worth.

Bertram Pincus: Dr. Prashar - you're from a... scary country, right? 

[pause] 

Dr. Prashar: I'm from India... 

Bertram Pincus: But, you're not... Christian, like us? 

[pause] 

Dr. Prashar: I'm a Hindu... 

Bertram Pincus: Yeah. So, um, how would you extract information from a hostile? 

Dr. Prashar: Well... as a... Hindu person... I would just... ask him... politely..

A very fine film from director David Koepp with some great performances and as I said a great deal of heart which helps it to rise above so many so-so romantic comedies. Well worth a look.