Starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, Dana Ivey, Kristen Wiig, Billy Campbell
Written By: David Koepp, John Kamps
Directed By: David Koepp
Studio: Dreamworks Home Entertainment
Buy on Amazon.com link

Any fan of Ricky Gervais will really appreciate Ghost Town. I’ve been a fan of his since Day 1 of The Office and Gervais really shines in this surprisingly funny romantic comedy. If you’re looking for a funny date movie, Ghost Town is that movie!

Ghost Town is about a misanthropic NYC dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais) who goes to get a colonoscopy. What Bertram doesn’t know is that he was clinically dead for a few minutes. The result of that, is that he can remarkable see & talk to dead people. Only problem is he can’t even stand people who are live, so you can only imagine how he reacts to the notion that he can talk to dead people. He manages to shake off all the dead people who want him to complete their unfinished business, except one. Frank (Kinnear) was a businessman who cheated on his archaeologist wife Gwen (Leoni). Now he wants Bertram to break up her current relationship with an activist. While hens intervening in Gwen’s relationship, he starts to fall for her. You can get the sense on what happens from there I think.

For being a romantic comedy, I liked Ghost Town a lot. Ricky Gervais plays Bertram quite well and is really funny. In a way, hens almost like David Brent from The Office. He can’t complete a sentence without sticking his foot in his mouth, or bumbling his way through lines. Both characters are big-time jerks but just like David Brent, he realizes how much of a tool he is in the end. Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni do a good job as well. Greg Kinnear can play jerks quite well sometimes. The screen time that Kristen Wiig has, she’s really funny and steals those scenes. Why isn’t she starring in her own movies yet?

Story-wise, Ghost Town isn’t really anything that new. You might have remembered that movie with Patrick Swayze called Ghost? It’s similar in some ways. This movie was a little predictable in that I knew what was going to happen in the end, or throughout the movie. Guy’s a jerk, guy sees ghosts, guy falls in love with Ghost’s ex-wife, ex-wife eventually realizes hens a creepy phony, guy betters himself, and then guy gets the girl in the end. But that doesn’t mean Ghost Town is bad. I actually liked it a lot and it’s quite funny. It’s just a cute, romantic comedy that both women and men will enjoy.

If you enjoy bonus features, there are only a couple of things to watch. There’s a typical making of featurette that does the job, there’s a funny gag reel of Ricky Gervais cracking up and there’s a quick featurette on the special effects of the film. Since this movie is a romantic comedy, the special features aren’t expected to be a lot. There’s also audio commentary with David Koepp and Ricky Gervais. But the main reason to get this DVD or Blu-Ray is for the movie itself, which I think is buyable if you’re a fan of Ricky Gervais.

Features:
– Commentary by David Koepp and Ricky Gervais
– Making Ghost Town
– Some People Can Do It
– Ghostly Effects

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Scenes with Kristen Wiig, all the scenes with Bertram and the ghosts
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 102 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: