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There are two things that I need in my life: Diet Coke and laughter. Diet Coke is pretty easy to find. Laughter…not so much. I need to laugh, or I’ll turn into a prune faced, ninety-year-old woman lobbing Diet Coke bottle caps at teens as they glide by on those newfangled hover boards (you know those contraptions from Back to the
Future that haven’t been invented yet—or have they?). Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that laughing makes me happy—and the romantic comedy Ghost Town had me giggling until I couldn’t breathe.
When cranky Manhattan dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) goes into the hospital for a simple surgical procedure, he leaves with the ability to see dead people. He’s no ghost-whispering Melinda Gordon, though, and he has no intentions of helping any of them. They annoy him to death, and he just wishes they’d go away—but one tenacious
ghost just won’t take no for an answer.
The spirit of Frank (Greg Kinnear) talks Pincus into helping him get rid of his wife’s new fiancé, whom he thinks is scamming her out of her money. Frank believes that if he can help Gwen (Téa Leoni), he’ll be able to move on. What follows is a hilarious sequence of events, from which all three take away something of value.
Ghost Town may be one great big cliché, but it’s one great big, hilarious cliché. I absolutely loved this movie. I’ve watched it twice already, and I plan to watch it again this weekend. It’s one of those movies that I’ll be able to watch over and over.
Though Pincus is most often a selfish jerk, he’s so funny that you can’t help but like him and hope he’ll get what he wants. British actor Ricky Garvais can be a bit hard to understand, though, so you do need to listen closely when he speaks—or you’ll miss some of the funniest things he says. You’ll also need to be sure to pay attention to the ghosts—and what keeps each one earthbound—or you might not understand some of the important scenes near the end. However, I caught everything on the next watch, and I found the second time around to be even funnier than the first.
With his boyish charm and good looks, Greg Kinnear is perfect as the smooth-talking ghost who believes the fault for his predicament lies with someone other than himself—and Kinnear proves that he can do comedy with the best of them.
I’ve been a fan of Téa Leoni since her TV series, The Naked Truth. And in Ghost Town, she plays the part of a widow with deft dignity and grace as she tries to put the death of her cheating husband behind her and move on. She’s the type of actress who can startle a laugh out of you.
Ghost Town may be comical, but it also has its serious moments, which add depth to the plot. You’ll come away feeling good about life, and you may find yourself giggling in the wee hours of the night—instead of sleeping—while remembering some of the funniest moments in the movie. I know I did!
Sprightly, forthright, and rolling-on-the-floor-laugh-out-loud funny, Ghost Town goes on my shelf as one of the best romantic comedies of all time.
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