HE SEES DEAD PEOPLE - AND THEY ANNOY HIM
February 20th 2009 02:46
OK. I’m just letting you know from the start – I am a HUGE Ricky Gervais fan. He is just an absolute comical genius. For those of you who have been living under a rock, Gervais is the brains and wit behind T.V gems ‘The Office’ and ‘The Extras’. Now he has taken a leap onto the big screen and - as expected - has not disappointed.
GHOST TOWN is the story of Bertram Pincus, an anti-social dentist who openly admits that he “doesn’t mind crowds, just hates the people in them”. He can’t even stand to talk to his patients, so he stuffs their mouths full of gauze when it’s not needed, just to avoid conversation.
When Bertram comes out after a routine colonoscopy, he realises that he has developed the annoying ability to see and speak to the dead. After being chased and hounded by ghosts wanting his help, including the cocky Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), he heads back to the hospital to ask his surgeon what happened.
“Did anything unusual happen during my operation?”
“You... uh... died for seven minutes”.
“I died! For seven minutes!”
“We brought you right back. People die all the time”.
“Yeah, but it's usually just once... at the end!!!!”
After leaving the hospital, Bertram is revisited by ghost Frank Herlihy. After much avoiding, Bertram finally listens to Frank and learns that his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) who lives in Bertrams’ building, is going to re-marry an absolute jerk and he wants Bertram to break them up.
This of course doesn’t sit well with Bertram – not because he doesn’t want Gwen to get hurt, he couldn’t care less. It means that he has to interact with other people which he absolutely loathes. But he realises that if he doesn’t help Frank, he will not be able to cross over and he will continue to annoy him.
When Bertram finally gets to meet with Gwen and her fiancé, he can’t find anything wrong with him. He’s a humanitarian lawyer who loves Gwen. But Bertram quickly sees that it’s not hard to love Gwen, and he begins to develop feelings for her.
After a lot of work, he finally succeeds in breaking them up, but this doesn’t allow Frank to cross over. It is here that we learn exactly what is holding him back, and Bertram begins to look at the other ghosts – and the world - in a whole new light.
This is just a FANTASTIC movie. I know it sounds a bit deep and meaningful, but there are so many brilliant one liners that it’s actually a comedy more than anything else. The ghost story line has been done to death over the last decade or so, but this story is just terrific. There is a marvelous support cast, and all the little roles hold great importance and hilarious dialogue. And as great as Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni are in the movie, Ricky Gervais is the shining light. He is just brilliant. He is known around the world as one of the leading comedians, and this movie has only boosted his status.
I don’t want to divulge too much and spoil this for you, because GHOST TOWN is definitely a must see movie.
It’s 9 out of 10 from me.
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