Ghost Town ~~~

29th October 2008

A highly admirable, gentle comedy with a twist starring Brit comedy actor du jour Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. Great supporting cast too, must be noted.

So, miserable git, the dentist who's a Brit, Gervais hates life. Hates people, hates most things. He plods through life without reason or rhyme. Enter Kinnear, but with a twist. I can't bring myself to divulge the story to ruin the plot but I might add, although nicely paced (slow and observant), well scripted and intelligently revealed overall, and even though I did leave the cinema thinking 'Oh, that was a nice film', something was lacking. In retrospect it might have been I left feeling the novelty of the story-line petered out in the end and that the team just didn't know whether to embrace what they'd started with.

I had no expectations of either the plot or how Gervais might fare on the big screen. I'm used to seeing him on telly in his half hour slots and as wonderful as 'The Office' is (I advise watching his stand up also) I was unsure as to how I'd take to an hour and a bits worth of 'really big Ricky'! Actually, it wasn't that bad. He manages to lure you into his character's sad little world and actually makes you care what happens to him. Ricky in a Rom-com, well I never! But it actually works. A bizarre accident changes his outlook on life and thus we join him on his journey from miserable git to the dentist who embraces both life and love.

It's all very life affirming stuff. Very believable (unbelievably!) and very sweet. The humour is pitched just right and I think Gervais' input into the script had great impact on this Brit reviewer's reaction to the film and its humour. The supporting cast and their histories are developed and presented very subtly and to great effect. Kinnear and Leoni were great but greatly overshadowed by Gervais, two hospital staff and his fellow dentist colleague.

I'm very glad to seen this film - I certainly wasn't disappointed. Unusual plot but not too over done. If anything, more could have been made of the McGuffin supporting cast.

This would make a great Sunday afternoon film that the whole family could watch. Congrats to the whole team who made this.