Melvin Udall (Jack Nicholson, Oscar come Miglior Attore Protagonista) è uno scrittore di romanzetti al femminile con un bell'appartamento a Manhattan e un comportamento ossessivo compulsivo che lo costringe a non toccare nulla se non con i guanti, a chiudere a chiave a cinque mandate la porta di casa e a lavarsi le mani con acqua bollente e una decina di saponette diverse. Misogino, misantropo, razzista e senza peli sulla lingua, Melvin odia tutti senza vergognarsene: ironizza sul naso di due avventori ebrei al ristorante ("How much more you got to eat? Appetites aren't as big as your noses, huh?"), sulle donne, che sa descrivere così bene perchè "pensa ad un uomo e gli toglie razionalità e affidabilità", e, in generale, su qualsiasi essere vivente, umano o animale che sia (basta il dialogo iniziale con il cagnolino Vendell per farsene un'idea), si metta sulla sua strada. Dal canto loro, tutti detestano Melvin: il vicino gay, Simon "La Checca" Bishop, pittore e proprietario di Vendell, il commerciante d'arte di Simon, Frank (Cuba Gooding Jr.), le cameriere e il proprietario del ristorante in cui l'uomo si reca tutti i giorni per pranzo, consumandolo rigorosamente con posate di plastica. L'unica a scambiare due chiacchiere con Melvin senza essere intimidita dalla sua scortesia è Carol (Helen Hunt, Oscar come Miglior Attrice Protagonista), cameriera "personale" dello scrittore, con pochi soldi e cultura (non riesce a scrivere "coscienza") ma con un cuore grande, soprattutto per quel che riguarda il figlio Spencer, molto malato e bisognoso di cure vere, non dei dubbi dei "mini-dottori di nove anni" che lo assistono al pronto soccorso.

Un tragico incidente che costringerà Simon (Greg Kinnear) in un letto d'ospedale, farà sì che il burbero Melvin conosca la gioia della compagnia occupandosi del cagnetto del vicino, suonandogli il pianoforte e rimpinzandolo di pancetta. Il lato umano dell'incallito misantropo inizia ad emergere con gesti di quotidiana generosità: prima una zuppa cinese portata al vicino convalescente e deturpato dalle cicatrici, poi un importante regalo a Carol, un regalo per il quale la donna sprecherà fiumi d'inchiostro in una lettera di ringraziamento che Melvin non vorrà accettare. Ma la gratitudine della cameriera non è immediata. Carol sospetta infatti un secondo fine dietro all'azione di Melvin e si premura di specificargli schiettamente che "non andrà a letto con lui, mai". L'incidente di Simon e la seguente bancarotta, forniranno il pretesto per un viaggio on the road in decappottabile fino a Baltimora per incontrare i genitori e chiedere aiuto. Al timone della spedizione un Melvin super organizzato (da notare i cd preparati per l'occasione) e, con lui, oltre a Simon, un passeggero d'eccezione: Carol, suo malgrado costretta ad accettare l'invito per gratitudine.

Tra gaffes al ristorante, completi nuovi da comprare, granchi col guscio, baci appassionati e insulti furiosi, in qualche modo i tre riusciranno a trovare un equilibrio: Simon riprenderà a dipingere ispirato da Carol, nuova musa, Melvin imparerà a fare complimenti e a prendere pillole per tenere a bada le sue ossessioni (e senza rendersene conto inizierà a guarire da sè), accorgendosi di provare qualcosa per quella cameriera che lo trovava un bell'uomo, finchè non parlava. E per quanto sia difficile per lei accettare lo strambo modo di essere di Melvin, una passeggiata alle quattro del mattino, aspettando il pane caldo, la farà crollare.

Commedia a metà tra l'ironico e il romantico, la pellicola di James L. Brooks punta tutto su un duo di attori straordinari. Jack Nicholson dosa sapientemente i suoi tic luciferini per dar vita a un personaggio indimenticabile che va ad aggiungersi alla lunga lista di istrionici ruoli nicholsiani: dal Jack Torrence di Shining, all'R.P. McMurphy di Qualcuno Volò sul Nido del Cuculo, passando per il Joker burtoniano e il Walter Schmidt di A Proposito di Schmidt, per approdare poi al boss mafioso Frank Costello nel film premio Oscar 2007 di Scorsese The Departed. Accanto a lui una Helen Hunt straordinariamente vera che compensa con durezza e pragmaticità la manicale comicità di Melvin. Da sottolineare anche il ruolo di Greg Kinnear (apprezzabile nella parte, ben più antipatica, del padre di Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine) che fa da collante tra Carol e Melvin, e l'interpretazione scatenata di Cuba Gooding Jr. che non fa dimenticare certamente il personaggio che gli garantì la statuetta: l'esilarante Rod Tidwell di Jerry Maguire e il suo tomentone: "coprimi di soldi!".

Dir. David Koepp; Writ. David Koepp, John Kamps; Star. Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni.

Ricky Gervais plays Pinkus, an anti-social dentist. He doesn't like people. Then, he dies; he is resuscitated; and he can see dead people. Ghosts pester him till he learns to appreciate people. He helps them find closure. He falls for a Ghost's, Kinnear's, wife, Tea Leoni.

Gervais is funny, but his character Pinkus never becomes likable. I'm not a big fan of Kinnear. Leoni is awesome, very cute and quirky.

Ghost Town didn't really take off the ground for me. It was ok, nothing special.

B

I was, however, pleasantly surprised by talented supporting actors appearing in the film such as Greg Kinnear, Steve Martin, and Sigourney Weaver.  Lots of SNL players showed up as well, but that's probably to be expected.

All in all, the movie wasn't terrible, but I expected much more originality from Poehler and Fey and didn't see anything in Baby Momma that I haven't seen before.

Ricky Gervais (pictured above in a photo by Ray Burmiston), the star and co-creator of the UK version of The Office who is now appearing in the feature filn Ghost Town with Greg Kinnear, performed in a pop band called Seona Dancing in the early 1980s. Wearing his hair in a David Bowie Let's Dance style, Gervais and fellow Seona Dancing member Bill Macrae made several recordings and appeared on a few television programs in the UK.

In an interview that took place in February of this year on the UK television talk show Richard & Judy, Gervais discussed his pop music past in Seona Dancing. A clip of the band is shown as well. Check it out:

An American Carol - A cynical American filmmaker who wants to abolish the 4th of July holiday is visited by three spirits who try to give him patriotic spirit. It's basically A Christmas Carol, except it's a comedy, and about the 4th of July.

Appaloosa - Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen are hired guns whose job of cleaning up a dangerous town is complicated further when they fall for the same woman(Renee Zellweger) in this Western directed by Ed Harris.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua - A talking Chihuahua heads out to Mexico to save the spoiled pooch he loves.

Blindness - A woman(Julianne Moore) pretends she's blind to stay withe her husband(Mark Ruffalo) when he's quarantined with other victims of a terrifying blindness epidemic.

The Duchess - A smart, beautiful, and popular English aristocrat(Keira Knightley) gets involved in the politics of her day, but her husband(Ralph Fiennes) isn't pleased.

Flash of Genius - An inventor(Greg Kinnear) passionately sues Ford for stealing his invention, the intermittent windshield wiper, while putting his health and family at risk. Based on a true story.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People - A British celebrity journalist(Simon Pegg) hired to write for an upscale magazine in New York doesn't play well with others; Kirsten Dunst and Megan Fox co-star in the comedy.

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - Two strangers (Michael Cera and Kat Dennings) with mutual friends and bad dating histories bond during a night of misadventures and musical pursuits.

There are a handful of movies opening today that are worth checking out. Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen will fight nude in "Appaloosa" (75% top critics), Michael Cera will play out of his league with Kat Dennings in "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" (83%), and Simon Pegg will try to not look disgusted by Kirsten Dunst in "How To Lose Friends & Alienate People" (29%).

As far as me, I'll be staying home watching sports and catching up on TV shows. However, if I was to suggest a movie or go see one, it would be "Flash Of Genius" with Greg Kinnear. It's only at 33% but I dig me some Kinnear.

Rachel Getting Married. Anne Hathaway stars in this film about the changing family dynamics when a prodigal daughter returns.  Multiple Oscar nominee Debra Winger and Tony winner Bill Irwin costar.

Flash of Genius.  Greg Kinnear stars as Robert Kearns, a man whose 1960s invention became standard in every car on the road and his quest for recognition for the mass corporation. 

Eight major releases open nationwide today. That's a lot of films all at once, especially for October. And just like it should be, there's something for every taste. What follows below are only the briefest of concept summaries and also some trailers. The links click through to blog entries where we've already given some of the movies a lengthier consideration.

Appaloosa (Expanding from limited release): Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen play traveling gunfighters hired by a dying frontier town to stand up to a despotic rancher (Jeremy Irons). Renee Zellweger is the woman standing between the two friends. Harris also directed, and early reviews from its limited release have been for the most part positive. Harris and Mortensen's previous onscreen collaboration, A History of Violence, was a near-perfect smart bomb of a movie two years ago; seeing the two play partners in this film will likely offer plenty of intelligent action fun.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua:  We sat through a trailer for this bit of fluff last summer and our eyes are still mad at us. Live action but with plenty of celebrity voices and creepy talking dog CGI animation, it tells the story of a - Jesus God - rich chihuahua from Beverly Hills who gets lost while on vacation in Mexico and has to find her way home. Drew Barrymoe voices the dog out of water Chloe, while an Argonauts of Latino actors - Edward James Olmos, Andy Garcia, Paul Rodriguez, Luiz Guzman, Placido Domingo, and George Lopez - fill out the cast. A 90s-era Taco Bell commercial of a kid's movie, of which there's not a lot out right now.

Blindness: A kindred spirit of sorts to 2006's overrated Children of Men, Blindness stars that film's Julianne Moore as a woman who retains her sight after an epidemic of "white blindness" breaks out in her home city. The afflicted are moved into a concentration facility and left to fend for themselves with minimal assistance, and of course society and any sense of moral restraint break down. City of God's Fernando Meirelles directs this adaptation of Jose Saramago's best-selling novel, but early reviews and a chilly reception at Cannes have been less than brilliant. Reportedly unrelenting in its bleak depiction of human depravity, it's the kind of movie where one wise old inmate (Danny Glover) wears an eye patch. Get it? Of course you do.  

The Express:  There are now officially enough "true stories about overcoming the odds of racism/poverty through playing sports" movies to constitute a genre unto themselves. Ernie "The Elmira Express" Davis was the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy, and though his pro career was cut short by leukemia his college record was an early rallying point for the Civil Rights Movement. Sports-movie veteran Rob Brown (Coach Carter) plays Davis, while Dennis Quaid plays Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder, who was - naturally - a surrogate father on and off the field. Previews have been exactly the same as all the other films of its stripe.

Flash of Genius: Ever felt sorry for the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper? You likely will after this Greg Kinnear-led character piece about inventor Robert Kearn's three decade legal struggle against the Ford and Chrysler corporations. Basically, he invented the intermittent wiper, an important safety device on all modern cars, and the car companies cheated him out of the profits. Lauren Graham and Durmot Mulroney co-star. Even though early reviews are middling, Kinnear's role has Oscar written all over it, and his performance might get him the award he's deserved at least once already.

How To Lose Friends and Alienate People: Simon Pegg heads this based-on-truth story of British writer Toby Young's attempts to fit in at Vanity Fair magazine. The trailer has its funny moments, mostly based on Pegg's undeniable comic timing, but the film's "The Devil Wears Prada But With A Guy" conceit may not quite deliver, despite a supporting cast including Jeff Bridges, Gillian Anderson, Kirsten Dunst, and Transformers vixen Megan Fox. We like Pegg, and it's always fun to watch Bridges vamp as the bad guy, but if the whole movie is just Pegg's wanker schtick this could be a great example of where the trailer has all the funny moments.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist: A conventional romantic comedy fashionably attired in indie duds, this Manhattan adventure directed by Peter Sollett (Raising Victor Vargas) features rising star Kat Dennings (The 40 Year Old Virgin) and possibly-over-already Michael Cera as two teens who fall in love during and after a punk concert in the East Village. The script is based on the popular novel by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, though Cera's character was reportedly rewritten considerably to meld with his screen persona, and the ending was also changed. Early reviews are lukewarm, and if it flops you'll likely hear all kinds of smart analysis about how Juno was just a fluke after all. Alexis Dziena (Broken Flowers) co-stars.

Religulous: Social and political provocateur - and proclaimed atheist - Bill Maher examines the worldwide phenomena of religion in this documentary directed by Larry Charles (Borat, Seinfeld). Maher's roving adventures include trips to a Christian-themed amusement park in Florida, an Islamic gay bar in Amsterdam, and an interview with a United States Senator who believes in creationism. Maher and Charles used the fake title "A Spiritual Journey" and did not identify Maher as its host when soliciting the film's interviews. Get ready for some people to get pissed off. I just hope it plays in Tennessee.

Monday we'll have a review of whatever film we decided to see first. (It won't be Beverly Hills Chihuahua.) Have a good weekend.

- Michael Kabel

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Monopoly money, it promised Long Island City freedom

and casual Monday through Fridays,

but at $9/hr and no benefits I kindly refused. 

Sunday we saw that Richard Gere movie.

Richard’s face appeared and Ali whispered, “He’s like a wine.”

Saturday was nothing to speak of, except for Fast Food Nation

furthering a deep love for Greg Kinnear

and Blood Diamond furthering

a curiosity about the Rhodesian/Zimbabwean accent.

Friday we were irresponsible citizens, choosing to drink an excess of red and white wine during the presidential debate. “If they made blue wine,

we would be patriotic right now.”  

 “Money bailouts, Pakistan, pork-barrel spending?”  “Hard to swallow.”   

“Orgy of spending.” 

“Jim Lehrer is surprisingly handsome.”

Note: Planning on being sober for Thursday's VP debate.

Actually, the last one we didn't really watch all the way through. We got it from Netflix and the disc was so banged up it wouldn't finish playing. So we're looking forward to watching the second half.

Since the success of The Office and Extras, their star and creator Ricky Gervais has been bombarded by film scripts from Hollywood casting him as the lead.  He rejected them all until Ghost Town came along.
 
This supernatural romantic comedy (if such a film genre didn't exist before it does now) may well be destined to become a classic.  Written by David Koepp and John Kamps, and directed by David Koepp, it has shades of It's a Wonderful Life about it but also an edginess and moments of pure comedy genius that only Gervais can provide.
 
He plays a lonely, socially awkward and misanthropic dentist, Bertram Pincus, who dies for seven minutes during a colonoscopy; he opted to have general anesthesia.  As a result, he starts to see dead people.
 
Apparently ghosts cannot be laid to rest until the unfinished business they have has been finalized.  As a consequence, Gervais is hounded by dead people one of whom, Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) wants him to stop his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni) from marrying someone he thinks is wrong for her.  In exchange, Frank promises Bertram that he will stop all the other dead people from hounding him.
 
Bertram agrees but in the process falls in love with Gwen.  With another writer and director, the film could have descended into saccharine mush.  True, the comedy slackens off a little but it is replaced with pathos, which serves to heighten the comedy when it returns to the fore.
 
And that comedy is the stuff that Gervais is renowned for -- acerbic and cringe making when he has to extricate himself from a faux pas.  According to the Baltimore Sun, 85 percent of Ghost Town came from the script by Koepp and Kamps, 15 percent came from two days of re-writes with Gervais and countless on-set improvisations.
 
The result of all of that is an opening barrage of laughs, the Gervais brand of humor goes down well with Americans, containing memorable moments such as the interplay with his surgeon (Kristen Wiig); preparing to meet with Gwen for the first time and trying out different ways with his hair; explaining how teeth cannot be self-righteous; and Chinese names.
 
Needless to say, the path to true love does not run smoothly and even seems destined to fail until Bertram suddenly comes to realize that people aren't so bad after all and he eschews the selfishness and self-centered attitude that has consumed him all of his life.
 
The film reminds us all that it is only by giving that we can hope to receive.  If that sounds terribly sentimental and the kind of thing to make you gag, just remember the vehicle for that sentiment is Gervais.
 
He told the Baltimore Sun: "They had to be real emotions, everyday emotions people identified with.  There is a difference between sweet and delightful and warm, and saccharine, manipulative, awful.  The latter is Hollywood Route One.  It is a fine line and I think we managed to stay on the right side of it."
 
Gervais is absolutely right.  Ghost Town is a refreshing and poignant comedy, and one not to be missed.

GHOST TOWN is the kind of intelligent human and heartfelt comedy that Hollywood knows how to make, but all too often passes over in favor of dreck like DUDE WHERE"S MY CAR?  Ricky Gervais is Dr. Bernard Pincus, a dentist that nightmares are made of.  He's selfish, egotistical, boorish, tactless, and uninterested in his patients.  He won't even attend a small gathering in honor of his partner becoming a father.

Dr. Pincus, however is not just a doctor, he's also a patient.  As the movie begins, Dr. Pincus has to go through the awful preparations for a colonoscopy.  I can tell you, from having watched my parents prepare for these, that it's not pretty.  It's also the kind of funny situation that makes GHOST TOWN a pleasure to watch.  I think every adult over the age of 50 was laughing with recognition at how Dr. Pincus tried to down the prep meds, and wait for them to kick in.

Happily, the procedure is successful.  At least that's what Dr. pincus believes, anyway.  He leaves the hospital, and talks to a nurse that he believes works there.  Only thing is, this nurse doesn't work at that hospital or any other hospital, for that matter.  She's a ghost.  And she's not the only one walking the streets of NYC.  Soon, Pincus is being followed by construction workers, elderly couples, police officers killed in the line of duty, a nude man, and a gentleman in a tuxedo named Frank (Greg Kinnear), who wants Pincus to help him with his widow, Gwen (Tea Leone).

It seems that Frank doesn't want his wife to get remarried to her boyfriend Richard (Billy Campbell).  Frank is convinced that Richard is up to no good.  Pincus, however doesn't want ANYTHING to do with Frank, or any of the other ghosts that now follow, pester, and generally make Pincus look insane.  But Frank and the other ghosts aren't about to give up.  Soon, Pincus finds himself wooing Gwen, and trying to drive a wedge between Gwen and Richard.  What Pincus soon discovers, however, is that he loves Gwen.  Frank, however, tries to discourage the relationship, because he sees the worst parts of himself in Pincus.  Things get even worse when Pincus tries to tell Gwen that everything he's learned about her and Frank is coming directly from Frank.  Pincus soon learns that he needs to start being less self-absorbed, and more in tune with the needs of others.  It's a hard lesson for anyone like Pincus to learn, but luckily for the audience, it's a lesson taught with a lot of laughs and heart, and Gervais pulls off a very funny and believable performance, and it's a great touch that Pincus has a sensitive gag reflex which becomes a funny running joke (notice I didn't say running "gag"?).

I was reminded of HEART AND SOULS while watching this.  In my mind GHOST TOWN is the perfect companion piece.  It's like HEART AND SOULS multiplied by two.  I just hope that Hollywood realizes that there is STILL an audience out there for this kind of intelligent  fun-filled comedy.  I, for one, hope the DVD will come with a blooper reel, because I swear there were scenes that had to be hard to get through without breaking up.

I know Mike already wrote a review for this movie, and there's little I can tell you, that he hasn't already, but I just got back from seeing Ghost Town, and I've been compelled to write a review for it. So, here's another review. I hope you enjoy it.

Last week, I had plans to see Ghost Town at the theater in my town, I had the whole thing planned since Monday, well when Friday rolled around, I called the theater to see if it was playing, and they said it wasn't. So, I checked the theaters in the nearest towns, and they also said no. Finally, I found out it was playing in the town an hour's drive away from my town. And today, a week later, after an hour of being on the road just to get to the theater, I've finally got to see Ghost Town. And let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it.

One thing I loved about Ghost Town was because it was different. It's realistic, the characters act like real people. Bertram Pincus is kind of awkard, and he rambles a bit, which I really love. In most movies, the characters say these ridiculous lines that you would never say, and they pronounce every word with perfect enunciation. Which is not the case with Ghost Town; people act like real people, which is I think is pretty cool.

Ghost Town is a nice change of pace from raunchy comedies, that are so poorly written that a second-grader could write them, and that are so crude you'd blush your face off you saw it with your family. Ghost Town is hilarious without being unbelievably crude. I was laughing throughout the whole thing.

It also has an excellent cast featuring, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, and Ricky Gervais. Ricky Gervais delivers his lines very believably, so much, that you nearly forget he's acting. Greg is great, as well, he portrays his character extremely well, he's that guy you know who's a jerk, but for some reason you like. Kristen Wiig is hilarious in her minor role.

Ghost Town follows the story of Bertram Pincus(Gervais), a standoffish dentist, who goes to the hospital for a minor opperation, and dies "for a little bit," but is brought back to life and awakes seeing ghosts. Bertram is particularly haunted by Frank(Kinnear), a ghost who tells Bertram that if he helps him he won't bother him. Bertram reluctantly agrees to help Frank try to break up Gwen (his widow) and her fiancee. All is fine until Bertram begins to fall for Gwen(Tea Leoni).

I highly recomend seeing Ghost Town. It is witty, and charming. It's a good comedy to see with the family. It's a horse of a different color, which is why I think it's so wonderful.

Ghost Town is rated PG-13, which I think is an accurate rating. There is a little language, which you might not want your children to hear, so if you don't want your kids to hear the F-bomb, you probably shouldn't see it.

Previous stars to front the show include funnyman Chris Rock, TV host Ellen DeGeneres, and comedian Jon Stewart, who compered this year’s event.

And The Office creator Gervais is hotly tipped to be named as host for the next ceremony.

But Larry Mark, a co-producer of the 81st annual event, insists that they have not yet decided on a host.

He tells E! Online, “We haven’t made one single phone call. There has been no reaching out.”

Academy president, Sid Ganis, adds, “We haven’t gotten that far yet. We’re just not there yet.”

Ghost Town

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Bill Campbell

Director: David Koepp

Release Date: September 19th, 2008

Studio: Paramount Pictures

Synopsis: Bertram Pincus, is a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. That puts Pincus squarely in the middle of a triangle with spirited results.

Read more, view the Movie Trailer and comment on Ghost Town at Walrus Films

by Michael S. Goldberger, film critic

The effervescent reincarnation of a romantic comedy sub-genre that’s been haunting silver screens ever since “Topper” (1937), David Koepp’s “Ghost Town” does its spectral predecessors proud. You know the deal. A cynic can suddenly see ghosts. He’d rather not. Making it worse, concomitant with said power he’s assigned a soul-saving mission. 

Handling the drill this time, literally and figuratively, is Bertram Pincus, D.D.S., portrayed with perfectly defining lack of joie de vie by Ricky Gervais. The sourpuss, who quizzically left his native London for New York because “it was too crowded there,” is entirely bereft of people skills. Oh, that he could stuff cotton wads in the world’s mouth.

Acquiring his apparitional sense following seven minutes of momentary death during a routine colonoscopy, now the loner has to suffer not only the intrusions of the quick, but the dead as well. Leading the charge of this new contingent hell-bent on precluding his much sought isolation is Greg Kinnear’s Frank Herlihy, former pitchman personified.

Happily for the plot, unhappily for Dr. Pincus, dead Frank hasn’t lost his stuff. Impelled to make one big last sale, the unwelcome vision in a tuxedo (you wear what you died in) explains that, while a philanderer, he nevertheless loved his wife, Gwen (Tea Leoni). And well, he just doesn’t like this guy to whom she’s engaged. He pleads mortal intervention.

Fat chance, says the doc, repeatedly, in hallways, anterooms, elevators and streets, inevitably also heard by those living folk who just so happen to be in attendance. Though in on the signature cliché, we still can’t help but laugh when these abashed observers puzzle over the solitary, round-faced fellow screaming, “Just shut up and get out of here.” 

OK then, retorts Kinnear’s niftily etched lead phantasm. To make his case, he’ll show Bertram what it’s like to be on the receiving end of a full-court haunting. He’s here, he’s there, he’s everywhere. Still, while beleaguering, it’s to no avail. And then it happens. Serendipitously, intercession seemingly arrives of its own power. Bertram meets Gwen.

It’s at a lecture the archeologist is giving as prelude to a mummy exhibit she’s mounting at the museum. She is bright, intelligent and winsome. And while there’s no sense in trying to conceal where that will take the storyline, here’s the rub. She’s the gal in his apartment building he’s closed elevator doors on and from whom he’s stolen cabs.

Trying to ameliorate that past rudeness, the D.D.S. is also still inundated with requests from a host of other ghosts, all beseeching him to right or correct a situation that keeps them in their Manhattan purgatory. However, while engaged in a plan that just might free Frank from his limbo, he’s hardly a ghost-itarian. The others can go to, well, you know. 

Granted, whether it’s helping angels get their wings or levering lost souls from the afterlife’s halfway house, this is all familiar shtick. But that’s OK, so long as each filmic visitation possesses its own consistency and novelty. Let’s face it. There’s an inherent fantasy here. Walking around N.Y.C. as a specter sure beats the big white light.

Hosting this latest cinema haunting, Kinnear puts on the charm like nobody’s business. He is a swell antithesis to Mr. Gervais’s selfish curmudgeon, their mutual incompleteness apt glue for the friendship of convenience that evolves. Gadding about town, chiding each other’s shortcomings, the one-liners zing, the running gags keep the levity aloft.

Unfortunately, despite its otherworldly pontifications, the albeit solid scenario can’t shake its Earthly bounds. Which means a traditional denouement, when she mistakes this, and he fails to comprehend that, and it sure doesn’t look like things are going to work out in the end, for anyone. It serves to remind that neither life nor death is all fun and games.

Once this clearinghouse of seriousness has passed, the frivolity tries to kick in again, replete with a somewhat surprising if not completely convincing twist. Bear in mind, beyond the afterlife thing, we’re also supposed to buy an unlikely coeur de affaire not exactly made in Heaven. 

All of which points to the fine suspension of disbelief Ricky Gervais’s character inspires. It is a multifold performance, chiseled with both humor and brine. Somewhere in that cold shell we suspect, or at least want to think, despite the Brit’s disassociating behavior and consistently deadpan renouncing of humanity, a good person resides. 

Tea Leoni as the widow lends a bit of emotional prestidigitation herself. Vulnerable without forsaking movie star appeal, she gives the improbable romance just the smidgen of credibility it needs. Alas, blame it on human imperfection that there’s no big nuance to turn things totally ethereal. Otherwise, “Ghost Town” makes for spirited moviegoing.

“Ghost Town,” rated PG-13, is a Paramount Pictures release directed by David Koepp and stars Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni. Running time: 102 minutes

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0871426/

This review has no spoilers.

This is not my sort of movie. I didn't really know much about the plot, even after watching the trailer (since I didn't pay much attention), so what little I did know - Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have different personalities and there is a baby whose parentage I didn't really know - was sadly not the sort of movie that I look forward to. The cast looked promising though, and I didn't have much else to do so I figured it might at least be good for a couple laughs and some occupied time. And that is exactly what it was. The story was predictable and often boring, but it was broken up by some really good jokes, delivered masterfully (mostly by Amy Poehler, whose name I never know how to shorten.) which made it at least somewhat enjoyable.

The film was written and directed by a former (or current? I don't keep up to date on these things) writer for SNL, which explains both the casting choices and the hit or miss comedy (Badump chh!). Yet it doesn't feel like SNL writing, which is a good thing, but it also feels overly conventional and unoriginal, which is not a good thing at all. There was a lot of great jokes in the film, mostly spot gags comedy wrought from awkward situations, but what made them great was the delivery by the talented cast.

Tina Fey is a great writer and just as talented as an actor. She oddly enough reminds me of a Meg Ryan type actor, but way better since I don't really like Meg Ryan. Then, of course, there is Amy Poehler who is one of my favorite comedic actors, and she doesn't fail to dissapoint in this film. Greg Kinnear was the same as always, and not at all funny, which is a contrast from the other "love interest" Dax Shepard, who has always been great at playing idiots. Also, why isn't Romany Malco in more movies? He's awesome and pretty funny, and I want to see him get more work.

I would only recommend watching this movie if you are a fan of the two female leads and have exhausted all otehr exciting things to do for the day. It's not a bad movie at all, but it's also not that great, especially after the fact, when the only things you remember are a handful of above average jokes and a memory of all the less than awesome parts. I also forgot to mention that Steve Martin is in it, and he is both awesome and hilarious, and I wish he would do more "good" comedies instead of Pink Panther movies.