Ghost Town (2008 film)

Ghost Town
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Koepp
Written by	David Koepp John Kamps
Produced by	Gavin Polone
Starring	Ricky Gervais Téa Leoni Greg Kinnear Billy Campbell Kristen Wiig Dana Ivey
Cinematography	Fred Murphy
Edited by	Sam Seig
Music by	Geoff Zanelli
Production companies	DreamWorks Pictures Spyglass Entertainment Pariah
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	September 19, 2008 (2008-09-19)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[1]
Box office	$27.1 million[1]

Ghost Town is a 2008 American fantasy comedy film directed by David Koepp, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Kamps. It stars English comedian Ricky Gervais in his first leading feature-film role, as a dentist who can see and talk with ghosts, along with Téa Leoni as a young widow and Greg Kinnear as her recently deceased husband. Gavin Polone produced the film for Spyglass Entertainment and Pariah, and it was distributed by Paramount Pictures under the DreamWorks pictures label.

Plot[]

In New York City, Frank Herlihy is accidentally killed by getting hit by a bus (after narrowly avoiding a falling air conditioner moments before) while trying to buy an apartment for his mistress. A short time later, anti-social dentist Bertram Pincus is dead for seven minutes under general anesthesia during a colonoscopy.

Afterwards, Bertram can see and communicate with ghosts. They pester him to help them with unfinished personal business. Frank promises to keep the other ghosts away if Bertram will break up an engagement between Frank's widow Gwen, a professional Egyptologist, and Richard, a human-rights lawyer who Frank says is dishonest. He eventually agrees, trying to woo Gwen away from Richard. Bertram's past cold-hearted behavior towards Gwen makes it difficult, but he attracts her interest by analyzing the teeth of a mummified Egyptian Pharaoh that she has been studying.

Bertram has dinner with Gwen and Richard, deciding that Richard is not so bad, but he himself begins to fall in love with Gwen, and she enjoys his sense of humor. At another dinner, Gwen reveals that she learned of Frank's mistress the day he died, and when Richard visits Bertram for some dental work, uses laughing gas to make him talk: Gwen has broken their engagement. Frank doesn't understand why he is still on Earth if his "unfinished business" was to break up Richard and Gwen.

Gwen, no longer engaged to Richard, accepts work at an archaeological dig in the Valley of the Kings for six months. As a going-away present, Bertram gets her a new key chain from a fancy jeweler's, knowing that she desperately needed one. But when he mistakenly reveals information about Gwen that only Frank could have known, she demands the truth, and Bertram tells her the whole story about the ghosts. Gwen doesn't believe him and demands to know what Frank's worst nightmare was. Frank lies to Bertram, telling him a fake nightmare, and Gwen, thinking that Bertram has been lying to her, walks away and cuts him off. Bertram asks why Frank lied to him about the nightmare, and Frank points out that Bertram only cares about himself.

Bertram sinks into a deep depression and asks his colleague Dr. Prashar for medication that will help him forget Gwen. Dr. Prashar instead convinces him that his life would be better if he decided to stop being cynical and start helping people. Bertram begins helping the ghosts around him with their "unfinished business" on Earth, bringing comfort to people they left behind and enabling the ghosts to depart. As he does this he realizes that the ghosts were still on Earth not because they had unfinished business, but because the people they were close to were not finished with them. He begins to appreciate life and the people he encounters.

Bertram realizes Frank cannot leave because Gwen has not let him go. He confronts her, who asks him to ask Frank why she wasn't enough for him. Frank says he is sorry for hurting her, which Bertram tells Gwen. She is incredulous that after his infidelity, all Frank would have to say was 'sorry' and thinks that Bertram is mocking her. He rushes after her and while trying to persuade her to believe him, ironically gets hit by a bus. Bertram, now a ghost himself, watches with Frank as a crowd forms and Gwen sobs over him. Richard arrives on his way to the reception and tries to revive Bertram with prayer and CPR. Seeing how upset Gwen is, Frank gives Bertram 'some advice' that will be useful in case he is resuscitated, and implies that Gwen loves him. After saying this, Frank finally leaves earth.

Bertram wakes up in the hospital. Later Gwen, who needs dental work, comes in for an appointment with Dr. Prashar but finds Bertram's office to say hello. Bertram tells Gwen of Frank's real nightmare—that of losing his way home, which was the advice Frank told him, and then assures her that Frank has "found his way home". When Gwen tells him, "It hurts when I smile", Bertram replies "I can fix that for you".^[2]

Cast[]

• Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, a disillusioned dentist who gains the ability to communicate with ghosts.^[2]
• Téa Leoni as Gwen, an Egyptologist and Frank's widow.
• Greg Kinnear as Frank Herlihy, a ghost who befriends Bertram.
• Billy Campbell as Richard, Gwen's love interest, whom Frank warns is a "bad man".
• Kristen Wiig as Bertram's self-involved surgeon.
• Dana Ivey as Marjorie Pickthall
• Aasif Mandvi as Dr. Prashar, Bertram's colleague.
• Alan Ruck as the ghost of a family man; he competes with Frank for Bertram's attention.
• Betty Gilpin as World War II Nurse
• Brian d'Arcy James as Irish Eddie
• Brian Tarantina as Ghost Cop
• Jeff Hiller as a naked ghost.
• Michael-Leon Wooley as a medical attorney.
• Aaron Tveit as the anesthesiologist.
• as the receptionist.
• Joey Mazzarino as food delivery guy.

Production[]

Filming took place on the Upper East Side of New York City.^[3][4] Regarding his character, lead actor Ricky Gervais said, "Just what America wants: a fat, British, middle-aged comedian trying to be a semi-romantic lead."^[5]

Soundtrack[]

1. "I'm Still In Love (w/You)" – written and performed by Dusty Wright (aka Mark J. Petracca)
2. "I'm Looking Through You" – written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles (opening title)
3. "The Heart of Life" – written and performed by John Mayer (ending title)
4. "What I'm Looking For" – written and performed by Brendan Benson
5. "Sabre Dance" – Written by Aram Khachaturian
6. "What I'm Looking For" – written and performed by Brendan Benson
7. "Sideways" – written and performed by Citizen Cope
8. "Which Way Your Heart Will Go" – written and performed by Mason Jennings
9. "Please Be Patient With Me" – written by Jeff Tweedy, Performed by Wilco
10. Original Score – composed by Geoff Zanelli

Reception[]

Box office[]

The film opened at #8 at the North American box office making USD $5,012,315 in its opening weekend.^[6]

Critical reception[]

Reviews of Ghost Town were mostly positive. The film holds a score of 85% from 184 reviews collected by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes,^[7] who gave it a Golden Tomato for Best Romance Film of 2008.^[8] The film received a rating of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic from 30 reviews.^[9]

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of fours star in the Chicago Sun-Times, calling it a "lightweight rom-com elevated by its performances" and a "reminder that the funniest people are often not comedians, but actors playing straight in funny roles."^[10]

Cosmo Landesman of The Sunday Times gave the film three stars (from five), calling it a "light comedy full of dark people" that's "never quite as funny as it needs to be" but which features a "fine performance" from Gervais.^[11]

Upon the film's March 2009 DVD release in the United Kingdom, Mark Kermode said "comparing Ghost Town with Woody Allen's 'early funny ones' may seem brash, but the gentle blend of absurdist fantasy, bittersweet romcom and deadpan physical humour evokes a string of enjoyable Allen escapades from the sci-fi slapstick of Sleeper to the ghostly charms of Alice."^[12]

Home media[]

Ghost Town was released in the United States on standard DVD and Blu-ray formats on December 27, 2008.^[13]

See also[]

• List of ghost films
• Just Like Heaven

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Ghost Town at IMDb
• Ghost Town at AllMovie
• Ghost Town at Box Office Mojo