Ghost Town (***1/4)

If The Sixth Sense had been a comedy, it probably still wouldn’t be much like this. But that’s the idea, anyway. Misanthropic, pudgy New York dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) can see dead people because he was dead, too. Metaphorically, sure, but also, temporarily, during surgery. The city is purgatory to souls with unfinished business, and now Bertram is besieged by them, most persistently by Greg Kinnear’s character, a philanderer who dies cute in the opening sequence and wants Bertram to break up his wife’s (Téa Leoni) new relationship.

So, being an example of what I call the gimmick movie, i.e. the alternate-reality fantasy, Ghost Town must be compared to my favorite example of such, Groundhog Day. I think that’s the best one in terms of exploring all permutations of its premise (reliving the same day over and over), and doing do so cleverly. Now, this is not quite as elegant in its plotting or the way it explores the possibilities of its premise. The ending feels forced. It makes amusing sense that the dead have to wear the clothes they died in, but where are all the old people? Maybe only the young have unfinished business.

But overall the story engages, and there’s a similar sense of romance. Even though it’s the first starring role for Gervais where he hasn’t been the writer or director, it seems as if crafted in mind of his comic persona. Director David Koepp and co-writer John Kamps also collaborated on another fantasy, the underrated Zathura. Time accurately describes Gervais’s persona as “the cringe comedy of unaware arrogance.” In other words, he’s rude, but never smug. He’s too self-absorbed to be supercilious. Wherein lies the humor, as in Gervais’s TV roles on the The Office (the BBC original) and Extras. Gervais is a master of the pained expression. Yet there’s the sweet, but not too sentimental side, to the story; as also with Groundhog Day, it’s a woman who inspires reform. Mostly, this most inevitable transition is natural. Koepp takes the fantastic and makes it seem down to earth.

IMDB link

viewed 8/7/08 (screening at Ritz Bourse); reviewed 9/12/08