There’s a lot that’s right about “Ghost Town.” To name three things: It has the first leading movie role for comic genius Ricky Gervais, it provides some nice screen time to the insanely underused Tea Leoni, and it acts as a respite from Hollywood comedy of the last couple of years, which emphasizes man-boys and their bodily functions.
But before any of those things kicked in, I liked “Ghost Town” because it came through with a terrific opening sequence. Why are so many movies so sloppy with their opening scenes? A great curtain-raiser can make all the difference.
The opener in “Ghost Town” involves a nasty man (played to a fare-thee-well by Greg Kinnear) on a cell phone — which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s deftly written, has a startling ending, and leaves off with a well-chosen Beatles song.
From there, we meet the main character, one Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais), a misanthropic Manhattan dentist who probably picked his profession because his patients wouldn’t be able to talk to him during their visits.
After a near-death experience, Bertram finds himself with a surprising and unwelcome gift: He can see and hear dead people. The departed are surprised, too; they’re accustomed to being ignored by the living, amongst whom they loiter.
The ghost comedy is practically a genre to itself, and writer-director David Koepp doesn’t avoid the familiar trappings of the form. But the movie has a sweetness that kicks in when a dead man asks Bertram to interfere when his widow (Tea Leoni) plans to marry a man (Billy Campbell) not good enough for her.
It’s easy enough to see where this will go, but quite pleasant to go there. Leoni could have been a 1930s screwball-comedy actress, but she’s real enough to hit the deeper notes, too. “Saturday Night Live” star Kristen Wiig makes the most of her supporting role, and Kinnear gets to indulge his smarmy side — which, let’s face it, is his best side.
When the film clicks it’s because of Ricky Gervais, the man who created and starred in the original British version of “The Office,” which was better than most of the movies made in the last decade.
Bertram Pincus (surely they must have named the character after Gervais was cast) is a neat, fussy man, and Gervais gets his sour personality just right. The movie doesn’t have a particularly improv feel, but there are enough scenes where you can sense Gervais ad-libbing to lend a freshness to the proceedings.
“Ghost Town” isn’t a big film, but its modesty and old-fashioned approach are welcome. And Gervais confirms he can play something other than self-delusion … not that he needs to prove anything else.
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