I’ve heard lots of people say that if you don’t like Ricky Gervais, you won’t like Ghost Town. I say, if you like sarcasm, mickey-taking and stupid laughs (mostly at Americans expense) then you’ll be rolling on the floor at Ghost Town. Yes the humour is very Ricky Gervais, but his very dry, perceptive wit is right on form in this film.Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a Dentist with the people skills of a hermit. He doesn’t like people and cares for no-one but himself. Then a mishap during a routine colonoscopy leaves him with more people than he would ever what to be around.
Pincus finds his way along life in how to treat people and be nice, with the help of Frank (Greg Kinnear) who wants the wife he left behind (Tea Leoni) taken care of. All in a humorous “Sixth Sense”, “I see dead people” kind of way.
The way Gervais can make the Americans in this film look like total idiots but also really funny at the same is an amazing talent that he possesses. It’s subtle and his grumpy, lonely, character really makes work. Anyone who has had a colonoscopy also will find parts of this especially hilarious. His references to how it feels and the concerns before the procedure are what anyone feels in this, rather invasive, situation.
So whether you like the very English Gervais style, or don’t know it that well at all, either way, you’ll love Ghost Town. A new and hilarious look at doing things for other people, and life after life. A certain must for the too hot evenings of summer after work.
By Tobie Harding - Christchurch
