Gervais is Dr. Bertram Pincus, a dentist who dispenses with social niceties and usually tells people exactly how it is. He lives a lonely life, keeping his distance from his colleagues and neighbors. Bertram goes through a near death experience during a routine surgery, and as a result he sees ghosts all around him – and they see him. The ghosts all have unfinished business they want Dr. Pincus to help them with, something he refuses to consider. An especially persistent ghost, Frank (Greg Kinnear, “Baby Mama”), bribes the doctor into helping him resolve things with his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni, “Spanglish”). Reluctantly befriending Gwen, Bertram actually starts to like her and grows to dislike Frank and the situation he’s left her in.
The film smartly focuses almost exclusively on the problems between the ghost Frank and his widow Gwen, rather than several different ghost characters. The audience learns as much as they need from the other ghosts in a touching scene where a group of them opens up to Dr. Pincus. “Ghost Town” doesn’t go for the easy tear-jerker moments, instead preferring the antagonistic relationship between Bertram and everyone else for most of the movie. Gervais’ deadpan wit adds a missing ingredient to this well-tread format, giving the viewer someone unlikeable you can’t help but like. His remarks are often so off-hand and subtle, it takes a moment to catch up with the joke. Kinnear and Leoni are fine in supporting roles, but Gervais makes the film.
“Ghost Town” doesn’t know quite how to resolve itself, taking longer than it needs to tie up the story. But unlike Scrooge’s swift change after seeing the three ghosts, Dr. Pincus’s transformation is more gradual, allowing the viewer more time to savor Gervais’ ridicule of the world.
Rated PG-13 for some strong language, sexual humor and drug references.
