Column:

'Ghost Town' is a comedy done correctly

By Dan Moore

Published Sept. 22, 2008

"Ghost Town" is a difficult movie to write about - and to make trailers about, judging from its ad campaign - because its success comes not from some interesting new premise but from the perfect execution of all of its parts. Its central conceit is so old that "Topper," its ghostly ancestor, starred a young Cary Grant. But this film is not about doing something new so much as it is about doing something correctly. This is the sort of movie people call old-fashioned, in a positive way, because nobody seems to value this level of fit and finish now.

The plot's an old one. Ricky Gervais, the man behind the British version of "The Office," plays Bertram Pincus, a misanthropic dentist whose lifelong success at avoiding human contact is foiled by a newfound ability to see the unsatisfied dead. Frank (Greg Kinnear), a smooth, recently deceased adulterer who wants to break up his widow Gwen's impending remarriage, looks for a more typical lothario to do the deed but is unable to talk to anyone but Pincus, who goes around town in his dentist's smock and can't correct someone without saying the word "idiot."

Frank agrees to call off the other ghosts, who spend most of their haunting time bugging Pincus for favors, if he can break the engagement. Pincus, who is so awkward at first that his attempts at seduction seem more like the social flailing of a future serial killer than flirtation (at one point he attempts to compliment her on her outfit and manages only to say "comfortable shoes"), is immediately enamored with Gwen, to Frank and her living beau's disdain.

What's amazing is how perfectly executed it all is. Gervais is limited as a dramatic actor, but writer/director David Koepp gets around this by showing us Pincus opening up as a person through the reactions of others. At first his snide remarks are for his own amusement, designed to belittle whomever it is he happens to be talking to; he leaves a trail of sad and angry faces in his wake. But as he gets to know Gwen his sarcasm is aimed at inanimate objects, or a third party, or even himself. Gradually we're shown people responding positively to him - the film luxuriates over shots of other people laughing, leaving Gervais free to show his character through what he's joking about.

In fact, all of the acting seems designed perfectly to complement Gervais's skills. Leoni is a fine foil to Gervais, warm and inviting from the moment she appears on screen but somehow off-balance, and Kinnear hits the exact line between obnoxiousness and magnetism. These dueling personalities are at the heart of each character, and the performances always maintain the right mix. The supporting cast is similarly adept at giving Gervais something to rage against, particularly Kristen Wiig as a sleepy, spray-tanned surgeon who refuses to admit to temporarily killing a patient.

If nothing stands out at the end of a movie like this, it's because nothing needs to; the pieces work in concert so beautifully that, like parts in a car or gears in a watch, you only notice one of them when it malfunctions. And in this movie, they just don't. "Ghost Town" is the kind of movie a reviewer's criticisms typically set out to make.