“Ghost Town” – 7/10

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni, Greg Kinnear

Plot: Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is an antisocial dentist that lacks people skills. After he dies during a routine operation, and then revived after seven minutes, he is now able to see and talk to ghosts, all of whom are stuck in a limbo and want him to help with their unfinished business.

One particular ghost, Frank (Kinnear), swindles Pincus into breaking up a relationship that his still-alive widow Gwen (Leoni) is having with a man. Pincus crawls out of his cave and ends up falling in love and learning valuable lessons.

The Good: The best part of this movie was British actor Ricky Gervais’ character of Bertram Pincus. He was the comedic drive in this romantic comedy, and was able to really sell his character who is based on awkward moments and a nervous motor mouth that doesn’t know when to shut up.

He’s also able to warm hearts as he turns from the antisocial dentist to a man that learns to love and help his common man (and ghosts). Every character interacting with Gervais was able to support and set him up for a one-way road to comedic success. Additionally, the ending had a tender good feeling that even deserves a few suppressed tears.

The Bad: There should have been more of Gervais being antisocial, which were by far the best scenes. His character quickly went from self-serving jerk to being a caring, good person who is still socially awkward.

Toward the end, this romantic comedy was a little too much romance and not enough comedy. It would have been nice to see the two genres played out through the entirety of the movie. The very end left a few questions up in the air between Gervais’s and Leoni’s characters. Usually in romances, the movie answers these questions and doesn’t make the audience assume.

The Low-Down: This movie is highly enjoyable, awkward romance and all.

“Ghost Town” works as a romantic comedy because Gervais is able to be stay fresh throughout the movie as a socially awkward jerk but can still turn around and touch the audiences’ hearts at the end.

The movie won’t have you rolling in laughter, it’s not suppose to, but it does make it much more enjoyable as Gervais clearly brings in the laughs and compassion to the screen.