Ghost Town
| Year: | 2008 |
| Studio: | Dreamworks |
| Director: | David Koepp |
| Writer: | David Koepp/John Kamps |
| Cast: | Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, Alan Ruck |
An otherwise bland rom-com given a few directorial and performance flourishes thanks to one of Hollywood's best scriptwriters behind the megaphone.
It's like a comic Sixth Sense as anti-social dentist Pincus (Gervais, his very Brit sarcasm feeling a little out of his element in a decidedly Sex in the City setting) dies temporarily on the operating table and when he comes back he's surrounded by the spirits of the dead who want him to help with their various closures.
Chief among them is Frank (Kinnear), a womanising executive who's wife Gwen (Leoni) turns out to be one of Pincus' mortal enemies. Through a convoluted script development Pincus has to turn on charm he doesn't have to befriend Gwen and (of course) starts falling in love with her.
The proceedings aren't distinctive enough nor the humour quite sharp enough (except for some of Gervais' barbs) to stand out from the crowd, which explains how a film made by the guy who wrote Jurassic park can only just scrape enough money back to cover its budget. One wonders what would interest Koepp about it after writing some of the biggest movies of the post- Star Wars age.
It's like a comic Sixth Sense as anti-social dentist Pincus (Gervais, his very Brit sarcasm feeling a little out of his element in a decidedly Sex in the City setting) dies temporarily on the operating table and when he comes back he's surrounded by the spirits of the dead who want him to help with their various closures.
Chief among them is Frank (Kinnear), a womanising executive who's wife Gwen (Leoni) turns out to be one of Pincus' mortal enemies. Through a convoluted script development Pincus has to turn on charm he doesn't have to befriend Gwen and (of course) starts falling in love with her.
The proceedings aren't distinctive enough nor the humour quite sharp enough (except for some of Gervais' barbs) to stand out from the crowd, which explains how a film made by the guy who wrote Jurassic park can only just scrape enough money back to cover its budget. One wonders what would interest Koepp about it after writing some of the biggest movies of the post- Star Wars age.