Directed by: David Koepp
Starring: Billy Campbell, Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni
Rating: PG-13

Tea Leoni and Ricky Gervais in Ghost Town. (Courtesy photo)

High concept comedies that come out in September, such as this week’s Ghost Town, are not supposed to be very good. Obviously, distributor Paramount didn’t expect much of it, not with the ho-hum trailer, uninspiring title, and general lack of support. Add a star who is still not very well known in the United States, and you’re left with “the movie starring that guy.” The thing is, Ghost Town is a delight. It isn’t wildly ambitious, certainly not ground-breaking. Nor is it trying to be. Writer director David Koepp is content to embrace the classic romantic comedy formula and add a few wrinkles. And there’s no better wrinkle than Ricky Gervais. The English star of the original Office and the HBO series Extras takes his first starring role and confidently throws the whole movie on his back. After somewhat eager-to-please supporting turns in movies like Night at the Museum and For Your Consideration, Gervais has shaken off the jitters. With good support from Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni, and a thoughtfully executed script by Koepp and John Kamps, Ghost Town exceeds all expectations.

Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a dentist who would rather stuff his patients’ mouths needlessly full of cotton than listen to them share their lives. He goes into a hospital for a colonoscopy and ends up dying for seven minutes. When he gets out, he can suddenly see dead people. And hear them, and be stalked by crowds of them, all hoping to complete their unfinished business and move on. The slickest of the dead bunch is Frank Herlihy (Kinnear), a fast-talking lawyer who wants Bertram to get his wife Gwen (Leoni) to break up with her fiancé (Billy Campbell), meaning this movie stars grown men named Ricky and Billy. Bertram’s communication skills are something south of abysmal, but somehow he breaks through with Gwen. The more time he spends with her, the more he realizes the picture isn’t exactly as Frank painted it. What takes Bertram longer to realize is just how self-involved he is. For those who found the British Office too painful, rest assured Gervais here is a lot easier to take. Nobody reads a room worse than a Gervais character, making the misanthropic Bertram a very good fit for him. The nice surprise is how well Gervais adjusts when the tone of the film shifts from comedy to romance and then pathos—well, you know, a montage worth of pathos. I’ve often thought a special award should be created for actresses who convince us they are attracted to their less-than-dazzling costars. I first got this idea watching Penelope Anne Miller seem genuinely drawn to Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. The same is true for Tea Leoni here. Though she only gets to show off a touch of her considerable comic abilities, Leoni does generate nice chemistry with Gervais—no easy task. Kinnear is in his very comfortable smug-and-smarmy mode as Frank. He and Gervais do a nice job of keeping things from turning saccharin. Campbell is good as Gwen’s impressively humorless fiancé.

Here’s Ricky Gervais all dressed up in his wonky dentist smock and nobody is coming to see him. Hopefully, word of mouth will turn Ghost Town into a mid-level hit in theaters. David Koepp has written an incredible list of blockbuster scripts (Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull). But his directorial efforts are usually dark, offbeat and not terribly successful (The Trigger Effect, Stir of Echoes, Secret Window). Ghost Town is the exception, and really deserves to find a big audience. There may not be another comedy this appealing until Thanksgiving, so see it while it’s still in theaters. Then tell others to see the movie with that guy.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.