From the minute that Pincus stops to notice how attractive Frank's widow Gwen is you know it's going to end up all very obvious as it becomes quite a simple romantic comedy. Now not only is this very unbelievable, strange thing to say about a movie about ghosts, but also very obvious. These two elements combine quite nicely to provide plenty of humour as Pincus struggles to tell who is alive and dead when walking down the street whilst also getting in his way as he desperately tries to lead a normal life.īut that is really just the set up as the storyline leads to Frank asking Pincus to stop his widowed wife from getting remarried. But then there is the 'Ghost' aspect as you have the ghostly Frank who in particular hassles Pincus in a not too dissimilar way to how Patrick Swayze harassed Whoopi Goldberg. Basically think of Mel Gibson in 'What Women Want' and how the voices in his head as he could hear women's thoughts and you sort of get what is going on here with Pincus and all the ghosts who hassle him. So as already mentioned the storyline to 'Ghost Town' feels like someone has combined ideas from 'Ghost' with 'What Women Want' and so we have the character of Bertram Pincus who finds himself being plagued by ghosts that only he can hear and see. And what Pincus has to do is cause Frank's widow Gwen ( Téa Leoni - Jurassic Park III) to split up from the new man in her life but in doing so he finds himself in the midst of a very confusing love triangle. And these ghosts want his help so that they can movie on to the other side especially Frank ( Greg Kinnear - Baby Mama) who harasses him till he agrees to help.

But following a visit to hospital for a minor exploratory procedure something strange happens because in the theatre he died for a bit less than 7 minutes and now can see and communicate with ghosts. The good news is that get past the set up and into what feels quite a familiar story and it all comes together nicely to make for a surprisingly enjoyable movie.īertram Pincus ( Ricky Gervais - Stardust) maybe a dentist but he is certainly not a people person in fact he goes out of his way to avoid people. But you have to get past that set up, a set up which relies on Ricky Gervais delivering a very dour character and it is hard work because to be honest Gervais's general style is something you either get and enjoy or don't.

It's actually not a bad idea if a little obvious when you get past the set up.

Whether intentional or not 'Ghost Town' comes across as if someone has combined ' Ghost' with ' What Women Want' to give us 'What Ghosts Want' a story of a man who can see and speak to dead people and as such finds himself helping out one particular ghost who hassles him into helping his wife he left behind.

Ghost town movie