It is alternately tender, sad and smart. It’s also very funny.
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11/07/08
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Ghost Town (2008)
85
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Reviews Counted:33
Fresh:28
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: Ricky Gervais' consistently sharp performance and beautifully dry execution transform this otherwise mainstream comedy into an endearing, funny, and altogether snappy romantic comedy. With ghosts.
Theatrical Release:Sep 19, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $13,214,030
Synopsis: Director and screenwriter David Koepp (STIR OF ECHOES, SECRET WINDOW) brings Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, and Téa Leoni together for a romantic comedy with a twist of the supernatural. Dr. Bertram... [More]
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni, Greg Kinnear, Billy Campbell
Director: David Koepp
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Reviews for Ghost Town
Top CriticThis just kind of fell flat.
11/07/08
Top CriticNaturally, Koepp makes it his business to redeem this unpleasant character and recast him as an acceptable stand-in for a romantic lead. But cynics should not despair; it's not a complete makeover.
09/19/08
Top CriticIt's enlivened by the performance of Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, a latter-day Scrooge for whom the living are no less annoying than the dead.
09/19/08
Top CriticThe best part of the movie is watching Gervais and Leoni delight in each other in scenes that burst with spontaneity and genuine warmth.
09/19/08
Top CriticSure, it's a light comedy, but it effectively achieves what it sets out to do: amuse us and tug on our heartstrings. And best of all, it's written, directed and acted with intelligence and wit.
09/19/08
Top CriticThrough it all there always shone this subtle, gleeful naughty schoolboy charm, not quite a full-on wink at the audience, but a tacit acknowledgement that sometimes even total jerks can exhibit an endearing charm.
09/19/08
Top CriticGhost Town, a romantic comedy about the living and the dead coming to terms with each other, is both very funny and a bit of a tearjerker, with an on-the-money performance from Ricky Gervais and a nice feeling for New York in fall.
09/19/08
Top CriticLeoni and Gervais are wonderful together, as much for the ways in which they wobble against each other as for the ways they ultimately mesh.
09/19/08
Top CriticAlthough ghost hijinks are a very Hollywood way of dealing with the subject, the twists are executed superbly, right up to a climax that fits the David Mamet definition of what makes for a perfect ending: It is both surprising and inevitable.
09/19/08
Top CriticLeave it to the unfailingly brilliant Gervais to breathe new life into an expiring genre.
09/19/08
Top CriticGervais is a master of the flustered broken thought, and Koepp takes full advantage in scenes that pit Pincus against a distracted doctor (a droll Kristen Wiig) and an imposingly large dog.
09/19/08
Top CriticThe sharp comic timing and the offbeat chemistry of Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and Téa Leoni keep Ghost Town afloat.
09/19/08
Top CriticWith lesser talent in front of the camera or a heavier hand behind it, the film might have crashed with a thud.
09/19/08
Top CriticAn innovative romantic comedy that is a mixture of British spice and American sugar.
09/19/08
Top CriticA friendly little piffle of a movie, Ghost Town nevertheless serves as a fine and funny introduction to Ricky Gervais for American audiences.
09/19/08
Top CriticIt's not just that Gervais isn't your typical leading guy. He's not, and bravo. It's more that Koepp and Gervais hold tight to Bertram's unpleasantness and human clumsiness after most other films would have winked at their intentions.
09/19/08
Top CriticAs Ghost Town reminds us, there's nothing wrong with formula filmmaking – as long as it's done with smarts and style. Indeed, formulaic doesn't have to be shorthand for lazy, obvious and uninspired.
09/19/08
Top CriticGervais, a British actor whose work on television is legion, has at last found a leading role in a feature, and it's a good one.
09/19/08
Top CriticIn this comedy by David Koepp, Gervais handles the big, crowd-pleasing gags with aplomb, though the only scenes that approach the edgy wit of his TV work are those he shares with fellow improvisers Aasif Mandvi and Kristen Wiig.
09/19/08
Top CriticLatest News for Ghost Town
July 02, 2009:
The Couch Tomato: This Week's DVD and Blu-ray in Australia
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November 14, 2008:
Ricky Gervais - RT's Dinner and the Movies Interview - Chapter 5
We continue our series of extended interviews by spending an hour in the company of Britain's funniest man. With a new chapter every day this week, today Gervais finds a job for... More...
November 13, 2008:
Ricky Gervais - RT's Dinner and the Movies Interview - Chapter 4
We continue our series of extended interviews by spending an hour in the company of Britain's funniest man. With a new chapter every day this week, today Gervais discusses the... More...
November 12, 2008:
Ricky Gervais - RT's Dinner and the Movies Interview - Chapter 3
We continue our series of extended interviews by spending an hour in the company of Britain's funniest man. With a new chapter every day this week, today Gervais discusses a... More...
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