... The story comes across as a hybrid of "Ghost" (dead guy wants to contact his widow) and "Feels Like Heaven" (the ghost tries to achieve this aim through pestering and general annoyance), with a dash of "A Christmas Carol" (said member of the living is a misanthropic curmudgeon). The characterisation ... Read review
In the comedy Ghost Town, Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is a man whose people skills ... more
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 (Greg Kinnear), who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen (Ta Leoni).
In the comedy Ghost Town, Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is a man whose people skills ... more
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 (Greg Kinnear), who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen (Ta Leoni).
Presents the adventures of the world's greatest cowboy, the comic strip character who can ... more
shoot faster than his own shadow. As he roams with his horse Jolly Jumper, always seeking new adventures, Lucky Luke meets two suspicious characters, Denver Miles and Colorado Bill. Together they arrive on the outskirts of a deserted city, Gold Hill.
Comedy - Director: Tony Dow - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: John Challis, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Tessa Peake-Jones, Gwyneth Strong
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: Likeable performances all round and enough funny moments. Disadvantages: It's unoriginal and the direction is uninspired.
...and "Feels Like Heaven" (the ghost tries to achieve this aim through pestering and general annoyance), with a dash of "A Christmas Carol" (said member of the living is a misanthropic curmudgeon). The characterisation too is far from original. Bertram Pincus is a Scrooge-like figure, Frank is a smooth-talking philanderer and Gwen is the wronged woman trying to build a new life for herself. Of course her new beau is a too-good-to-be-true ... ...and their relationships are going from the get-go. So there are few surprises as our hero becomes more human. However, there are a few little twists that liven things up. The dialogue is at its best with apparently off-the-cuff remarks from Gervais that seem to elicit real laughs from his co-stars. Otherwise it's fairly bland.
I don't usually like Ricky Gervais in films, in fact I despise him, but he seems to be learning how to act, ... more
Dr Bertram Pincus is a curmudgeonly, misanthropic dentist who pushes away anyone that tries to get near him. After he dies for just under seven minutes during a routine operation, he awakes with the ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, especially Frank Herlihy, who persuades Bertram to try to break up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. Gwen and Bertram are neighbours and she considers him "a little bit of a jerk". Despite himself, Bertram starts to warm to Gwen. With a bit of help from the recently deceased, he learns some valuable lessons about life.
Writer-director David Koepp is better known for his screenplays than his direction. It's clearly where his strengths lie if this film is anything to go by. That's not to say his direction is bad, it's just uninspiring. The film stock he uses is grainy and he doesn't make the most of his locations. Everywhere looks a bit anonymous and the New York montage feels like it's made of stock footage. He's also rather fond of montages, using them to show the dentist's work, Frank coaching Bertram to help him get close to Gwen and New York in trouble. The effects are a tad shaky in places. The way people walk through ghosts is achieved with some very basic morphing technology, as is the way they fade and disappear once their business is finished. The lighting of lights as they move on is a bit cheesy - calling to mind the ringing of bells as an angel gets its wings in "It's A Wonderful Life".
Koepp has a light touch and good comic timing that help to endear the characters to the audience. He uses short introductions to the two leads that show them to be "bad" people (Frank is arranging to buy an apartment for his mistress and Bertram stuffs his patients' mouths with cotton wool so he doesn't have to talk to them). But their bitterness is offset by comedy. Frank's death is a gag set-up with a twist - we are led to expect one outcome but get another and Dr Pincus' patients keep talking. The relationships appear to develop naturally; Bertram's attempts at getting to know Gwen are amusingly clumsy. The director clearly likes his protagonists and his affection for them translates easily to the audience. So by the end of the film, you are rooting for them. Some of the softer moments are saccharine and Bertram's decision to help ghosts other than Frank is dealt with too quickly. But thanks to a series of likeable performances, this is an enjoyable, if largely unoriginal film that entertains throughout its hundred-and-two minute running time.
The screenplay by Koepp and co-writer John Kamps is based on a well-worn premise; that ghosts cannot move on until all their earthly business is finished. Here they need a member of the living to help them. The story comes across as a hybrid of "Ghost" (dead guy wants to contact his widow) and "Feels Like Heaven" (the ghost tries to achieve this aim through pestering and general annoyance), with a dash of "A Christmas Carol" (said member of the living is a misanthropic curmudgeon). The characterisation too is far from original. Bertram Pincus is a Scrooge-like figure, Frank is a smooth-talking philanderer and Gwen is the wronged woman trying to build a new life for herself. Of course her new beau is a too-good-to-be-true good-looking ethical lawyer. You know where all of the players and their relationships are going from the get-go. So there are few surprises as our hero becomes more human. However, there are a few little twists that liven things up. The dialogue is at its best with apparently off-the-cuff remarks from Gervais that seem to elicit real laughs from his co-stars. Otherwise it's fairly bland.
I don't usually like Ricky Gervais in films, in fact I despise him, but he seems to be learning how to act, if his performance as Bertram Pincus is anything to go by. The character doesn't appear to be such an obvious version of Gervais' own persona. He's grey, grumpy, impatient, rude and sour. But as the film progresses he slowly thaws and I found myself warming to him too. He's clearly been reined in by the director, keeping his adlibs to a minimum, but making them funnier as a result. The dark mutterings are a nice touch and his character transformation doesn't feel forced.
Greg Kinnear is a reliable supporting actor; he's very generous and makes his co-stars look good. In this case it is mainly because of the rapport he shares with Gervais. As Frank he's slimy, wheedling, cocky and smug but he commits completely to the role and allows a spark of humanity under the arrogance. He has a really nice combative relationship with his male co-star that sells the central premise. Téa Leoni is a neat fit to the film as Gwen. She comes across as attractive, warm, smart and a little geeky. She has a great deal of heart that makes her a sympathetic figure and has believable chemistry with Gervais.
The original music by Geoff Zanelli relies heavily on woodwinds to convey different moods. They are often cheeky, setting a light tone, but they can also be sad or sorrowful. There are lively arrangements of piano and chasing strings, some 1960s' style acoustic guitar pop with Hammond organ and tambourine and frantic discordant violin with bongos when Pincus is being chased by a group of ghosts. When things inevitably go wrong for him, his moping is accompanied by mournful piano and violin. His attempts to put things right are backed by slightly syrupy sorrowful woodwinds, violin and piano. It's a reasonable accompaniment to the film that might even work out of context.
"Ghost Town" is a highly unoriginal but likeable comedy that works because of the director's light touch and the consistent turns by its cast. It's a reasonable way to while away the best part of an hour-and-three-quarters and it will no doubt become a perennial favourite when it hits television. But those of a sensitive disposition should be warned there is some infrequent swearing. I liked it and nearly shed a tear or two come the end and it may even have convinced me to give Ricky Gervais another chance.
Advantages: Funny, quirky and very Ricky Gervais Disadvantages: A bit dead I guess!
I was really keen to see this film after watching several trailers and programmes about it. It sounded funny, but also I was more keen because it had Ricky Gervais in it, and I like his style of humour. I would have seen it in the cinema but to be honest I haven't been out to see a film in ages. So I watched this at my mate's house. Story
Bertram Pincus is a miserable old git. He hates people and has no patience for their conversation. In fact he ... ...patients would always have their mouths full so he'd never have to talk to anyone! Then he finds himself in the position of being the patient, going for a procudure on his colon, and is determined to go under GA, against medical advice. When he wakes, suddenly he finds himself being pursued by crowds of people, who seem fascinated that he can see them. There were complications while he was under GA, which caused him to die, well, for 7 minutes anyway. ...
Ayesha- 28.08.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ghost Town (DVD)
Advantages: Funnier than I had hoped Disadvantages: ricky aint everyones cup of tea
...unique situation where humans and ghost can now see and talk to him, a bridge between the two dimensions. He's very much alive and they are very much dead. Everyone from nurses from 1912 and construction workers from 2008 can see him. At the same time Greg Kinnears character Frank is getting run over by a bus, very inconvenient as he has a dinner date and an apartment to view, now a ghost and wandering the streets of New York in his tux, he one of ... ...help him the gaggle of ghost who have problems they want Bertram to sort out will never go away and he will never get any peace. The lady in question is attractive archaeologist Gwen Harris (Téa Leoni), who lives in the dentists housing block but yet another who can't stand him. So with the guidance of Frank he has to set about breaking them apart, but inevitably falls for her, which is never going to be reciprocated. But it's this act of getting ...
thedevilinme 11.10.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ghost Town (DVD)
Advantages: good funny story, good acting Disadvantages: Ricky Gervais is the lead actor!
...Bertram meets a ghost who is very smartly dressed called Frank who tells him that if he help him then he will keep the other ghosts away. Bertram decides he will help Frank and soon learns that he is helping Frank split his wife and her new fiancé up. Bertram believes that if he befriends her then she will see that there are other people out there and split up with her new love. Bertram sets off on him mission to woo her but with Frank always by ... ...in his role of the ghost Frank. There were other supporting actors and actresses in the film and we did enjoy each and every one of them and though they all did a great job. The film is set in modern times in America so not much time or effort was needed for the sets or costumes but they all did look good. The music in the film was good and if not very memorable it was all appropriate for the places which it was used.
The special effects in the ...
sewbizzie 07.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ghost Town (DVD)
Advantages: Interesting... sometimes even absorbing. Disadvantages: Ricky Gervais as main character.
...When one particularly resilient ghost manages to pester Pincus into helping him break up the impending marriage of his widow, Pincus, who is exceedingly rude and unpleasant to be around, falls for the widow himself.
'Ghost Town' is a reminder of how the Americans view the Brits… as rude and unconscionable denizens of a musty and out-dated nation that still believes in classes. The truth is, they're not that far off… but it's becoming a bit tedious ... ...and vulgarity. Although this imagery amuses the Americans and is so obviously responsible for Ricky Gervais's success in the USA, I, for one, was not particularly amused by the main character's OTT rudeness, and his unredeemable nastiness and callousness. To me, British humour is synonymous with 'Death at a Funeral', 'Keeping Mum', 'Hot Fuzz', 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', and 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. All of these movies highlight ...
GoFigure 12.01.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ghost Town (DVD)
Advantages: amazingly funny, great cast, atmosphere in cinema Disadvantages: /
...had been waiting to see Ghost Town since I first saw the trailers, and now I have had the chance, and what a film it was!
Ghost Town, set in Manhattan, is a film about one man, a dentist, named Dr. Bertram Pincus. He goes in for a bowel operation and manages to die for seven minutes on the table. When he awakes and leaves the hospital, he discovers he can see the dead people (the ghosts!). All these ghosts keep pestering him to help them, but none ... ...its cast. And believe me, Ghost Time has an amazing cast! Pincus is played by none other than Ricky Gervais. That guy really does crack me up so much; he's hysterical! I think he was best suited to Pincus, and his British accent certainly did stand out against the Americans. Frank is fantastically played by Greg Kinnear. I'd not heard of him before (or so I thought), but straight away I fell in love with his talent. After searching him on the web, ...
Amy69 26.10.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ghost Town (DVD)
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Advantages: The Doorstep Divinations are proof positive of Derek's abilities Disadvantages: Not enough time spent at each Haunted location
to find a downside to this show, it would have to be the lack of time spent at each location.
Instead of rushing through each area in 10 minutes, it would be better to investigate only 2 locations per episode (25-30 mins per location) so that we can at least learn a little more about where the team are visiting, and what ghosts are supposed to lurk in them.
We could also have done with more than 2 episodes, being that as for a similar price - a Most Haunted DVD will give you around 6 or 7. More on Volume 2 please !
If you chose to buy this DVD, you'd be entertained and I think that is the most important thing to cosnider when making a buying decision. Whether being entertained is enough, or you are wanting good hard solid evidence of the paranormal is up to you to decide.
EXTRAS
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There is a documentary called Ghost ...
PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT; TECHNICOLOR DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, PARAMOUNT
Languages
Main Language
English
Technical information
Aspect Ratio
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Professional reviews
Review
An instant comedy classic (Mail On Sunday, 19/12/2008)
DVD Description
EXTRAS and THE OFFICE star Ricky Gervais brings his trademark wit to this comedy. The British actor stars as a man who dies for seven minutes, but his awakening brings more than just a newfound appreciation for life: he can now see ghosts.
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