"Ghost Town" (2008) - Movie Review

It is indeed great to see talents extracting terrific materials out of the old churned in sappy romance plots. It is greatly comforting that there is no such thing as exhaustion of a material too. Anything can be done again and again every time birthing into a fresh novel script on right hands. The first human to see a ghost in my life would Whoopi Goldberg in “Ghost” working merely out of annoyance from Patrick Swayze character. And we have seen that setup being used either as a subplot or the main in rather irritating films. Now say the name of this film “Ghost Town” a bit loud. What do you think? I agree. It does sound “distilled” zillion times of stereotypic comedic ghost film, and distilled out here means worsening proportionally with use. Life is full of surprises though and especially is relishing in films, for me at least.

I know Ricky Gervais through the “The Office” US series fame but have not seen him on works with his original Office and “Extras”. Hence I got exposed to his comedy style only through this film and he is what Jim Carrey is now. May be I did not get to see the “Ace Ventura” of him but one does not mind when something is good as he does in this film. He does not make awkward talks but the pauses are at its height of its stumbling bizarre. And the smiles of that caliber during those intervals are signs which erupts the trade mark wackiness needed for a comedian.

Ricky Gervais plays a misanthropic dentist Dr. Pinkus and they do not dig examples wasting time to show that he does not gives a damn to any one else. They sink right in on the marketed plot which is his sudden sight of dead people after a colonoscopy which makes him die for seven minutes. One such is Frank (Greg Kinnear) a good talker demanding him to break up his widowed wife Gwen (Téa Leoni) and her fiancé Richard (Billy Campbell). Unfinished business->dead people stay-> blah blah, no need for details is the viewer’s mind and so is writer John Kamps and writer/director David Koepp.

Pinkus a terrible people person and as his colleague Dr. Prashar (Aasif Mandvi) says to him in a scene, he got to think why he is a prick and what exactly is the deal. We never know much about that than a hard break up with his girl friend. Gwen is a passionate Egyptologist analyzing in depth details about mummies and their cause of death to learn some thing from it but she is biting herself for the affair Frank had which she knows after his death. What made her husband to opt for another woman is ringing on and on.

As expected Pinkus falls to Gwen in the process to separate the pair and in thinking about it is of no surprise. For whatever he has chosen to be this hard and crowd hating person, a chance he lets some one in to his good side excites him. It makes him a part of something which he avoids at all cost. When Pinkus indirectly with flashing obviousness tells Frank about him being the candidate for wooing Gwen for the strategy, Frank laughs and we know why but soon enough we are proven wrong. He is funny because he wants to be funny and not in the cheesy awkward routine cuteness in romantic comedies. In getting some tips from Frank, Gwen and Pinkus do actually enjoy each other’s company.

They break the convention in the genre as such not making the fiancé a complete undeserving match for the lady. Rather he is a dedicated and true altruist who takes the sadness and pain of the world a bit too seriously. The question arises in Pinkus as it does for us in this of why Frank wants him out of Gwen’s life. These are the little works of unconventional nice dips which sweetens the picture appreciably.

But in the end it becomes the movement of these three characters around each other coherently and complimenting correctly. Kinnear, Gervais and Leoni take it out of the league of numbing exercise into a charming romantic and serious film on its content and characters. So does the necessary supporting characters both for comic and dramatic parts. Look the carefulness in penning something for the surgeon for Pinkus played by Kristen Wiig. I like how she chooses her roles in these bright comedies. Wiig knows that the roles should not be too lengthy to accustom the people of her mannerisms and not too short to be forgetful.

“The Office” label should not stop the non-fans of that from going to this Gervais show. It is not dry and it is not awkward. It is not offensively raunchy nor does the bored to death disgusting graphics which has propped up to be the props for these coming comedies. It has a plot and routine that has been used badly in the films we have seen and they twist to make it palatable. It has the cast simple enough in this light comedy drama to chill us and yet care for these characters. It mainly has a good script and a right direction.