Hospital Nurse: [after Bertram's colonoscopy] "Come back soon.
Bertram Pincus: What a terrible thing to say in a hospital!"
On paper, David Koepp's Ghost Town sounds like a hackneyed rehash of a premise that's been, well, done to death. But ask any comedian and they'll tell you: the power of the joke is in the telling. And where it counts, Ghost Town is very well told, indeed: the comic voice of Ricky Gervais comes through loud and clear, and Koepp's vision of a classical Hollywood comedy creates a confluence not only of great performers but of considerable wit and heart.
Through misuse, "heart" has become somewhat of a dirty word when it comes to Hollywood comedies, but Koepp cultivates sentiment that's well-earned and sincere, not canned. On the way there, Ghost Town is as funny as any film to come out this year. At its essence, it's Topper multiplied, with Gervais' misanthropic dentist Bertram Pincus seeing dead people all over Manhattan following a botched medical procedure (some of the film's funniest scenes involve the brilliant Kristin Wiig as a purposefully inarticulate surgeon and Michael-Leon Wooley as her in-house legal counsel). Greg Kinnear plays Frank Herlihy, an urbane ghost (he died with his tux on) who remains in limbo due to "unfinished" business with wife Gwen (Téa Leoni). Though Frank was a cad with a girl on the side, he's had time to reflect on the depth of his love for his wife, and fears she'll go through with her plans to marry a human-rights lawyer named Richard (Billy Campbell).
Since Pincus is the only conduit ghosts have with the living world, he becomes a celeb to the lingering dead, and he can't hire security to keep them from hounding (aka haunting) him. Frank's force of personality puts him front and centre with Pincus, who Frank wants to use as spoiler for Gwen and Richard's engagement. As living nightmares go, it's a perfect storm for Pincus, who would rather sit at home alone with a crossword than have to suffer through a conversation with anyone ("It's not so much the crowds as the individuals in the crowds," he explains). Now he has demanding ghosts huddling 'round his bed and, worse, feelings stirring up from long-undisturbed depths. The beautiful Gwen - a mummy expert at the Metropolitam Museum - provides a strong incentive for Bertram to get back in the game.
At 102 minutes, Ghost Town doesn't have enough time fully to develop the internal logic of a world of ghosts with no boundaries, but Koepp's approach is smart and literate, from the visual and thematic complements of the mummy trappings to the perfectly judged exchange that ends the picture. The fertile dialogue and humour emerges from strong characters with interesting foibles, performed by actors keen on both comedy and drama. Though they're an unlikely pair, Leoni and Gervais develop a credible chemistry that follows a funny and involving arc from her initial appraisal of him (well deserved) as "a little bit of a jerk." Fast-talking Kinnear uses his quirky expressiveness to full effect and downshifts as required into just the right tone of wistfulness. Kudos also to Indian actor Aasif Mandvi as Pincus' drily reactive workmate and an ensemble of ghosts led by Dana Ivey and Alan Ruck.
Above all, Gervais (in his leading-man debut) once more proves himself a major talent, borderlining on genius. Without him, it's unlikely Ghost Town would pass the funny test. With him, the film's conversational rhythms are endlessly surprising, as Pincus falls into awkward conversational traps, makes misjudged attempts at being sociable, and generally despairs over the stupidity of his fate. Koepp's comic fantasy - of death and what happens next, of first impressions and getting deeper, of second chances - locates its own distinctive way of developing the age-old carpe diem theme. As Gwen eloquently puts it, "What happens matters. Maybe only to us, but it matters." If that's not a word to the wise, it's at least a word to the selfish and cold. And any film that can send out that word while being consistently funny deserves a wide audience.
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