Imagine silver-miner-turned-oil-man Daniel Plainview from “There Will Be Blood” as a leading man in a romantic comedy, and you may come close to sensing what “Ghost Town” feels like.
In this film, the leading man is so selfish and filled with so much bitterness, it’s a miracle his gloom doesn’t defile the motion picture. The British writer/comedian Ricky Gervais stars as a dentist named Bertram Pincus.
He’s the defiantly lonely type who hates everyone. When someone invites him to a party where there will be large gatherings of people, he responds “It’s not that I hate large crowds, it’s that I hate the individuals within the crowds.” He’s perfectly content with being completely miserable. He’d rather be left totally alone.
Due to complications from a recent hospital visit, Pincus has the ability to see dead people. As it is explained to him, he died for about seven minutes during an operation. After coming back to life, he has the ability to see the deceased walking around. As ghosts have unfinished business of sorts, they gather around him in large crowds, asking for favors on earth so they can be at peace.
Greg Kinnear plays Frank, a ghost who tries to make a deal with Pincus. If Pincus resolves some unfinished business of his, then all the ghosts will then leave him alone. It’s an offer too great to pass up, as everyone alive will think that Pincus is crazy if he’s constantly surrounded by talking ghosts.
This is the type of movie where it’s best not to ask too many metaphysical questions. If the ghosts are able to walk through walls, then why don’t they just fall through the floors?
But these kinds of questions are not the movie’s main concern. By convention, it’s a romantic comedy involving Pincus and Frank’s widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni). And as a romantic comedy, it works. Pincus changes his focus from his own needs to the needs of the widow. Gervais knows how to play a sympathetic jerk, as he must have learned a few tricks from starring as the boss in the British version of “The Office.” Here, Gervais is playing a selfish man forced by circumstances into becoming a charitable man.
The strength of a romantic comedy doesn’t necessarily have to reside within convention, and a romantic comedy can work while lacking sizzling hot chemistry. The romance in “Ghost Town” lacks sexual tension, conventional beauty and charming leads, yet it still works.
The reason why Ghost Town works is because the romantic situations are used to change Pincus from within. To see a bad man move away from his evil ways while learning and growing, is sometimes more satisfying than watching a movie about beautiful people with perfect teeth living happily ever after. Pincus is imperfect, and Gwen’s smile is crooked. Good thing he’s a dentist.
