Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #672 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-03-02
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Ricky Gervais is brilliant in Ghost Town, playing an unnervingly rude dentist, Bertram, who dies for a few minutes during surgery and acquires the unwanted ability to see ghosts. Chased throughout Manhattan by a gaggle of restless spirits begging him to take care of their unfinished business on Earth, Bertram turns them all away except Frank (Greg Kinnear). The latter, a rogue who cheated on his archaeologist widow, Gwen (Téa Leoni), wants Bertram to intervene in a romance between Gwen and a starchy activist (Bill Campbell). Misanthropic Bertram has to polish his relationship patter, but ends up sounding a lot like Gervais' infamous character in the original The Office, unable to complete a sentence without making others uncomfortable. In time, of course, Bertram falls for the wonderful Gwen, setting up a bunch of overlapping conflicts. Cowritten and directed by David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), Ghost Town walks a fine line between comic freshness and a story idea with elements that have become overly familiar in movies and on television. Kinnear and Leoni have never been better on screen, but Ghost Town is well worth seeing because no one like Gervais has previously played the hapless hero in a high-concept film such as this one. With Gervais doing his familiar, hilariously discomfiting thing, it really doesn't matter what kind of movie Ghost Town is. Happily, it's a pretty good film in every respect. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Deadpan hilarity and quirky charm come alive in Ghost Town, starring Britain's favourite comedian Ricky Gervais (The Office) as social reject Bertram Pincus. Emmy award winner and seven times Bafta winner Gervais proves his Hollywood worth in this transatlantic feel good love story about a man, a woman and a ghost. Pincus is a New York City dentist with horrendous people skills. When a routine surgery goes awry, Pincus is pronounced dead, but is miraculously revived seven minutes later. The ill-mannered Manhattanite suffers only one lasting after-effect; the ability to see and speak to the dead. Word soon gets out in the spirit community and Pincus is irritate to discover he's the go-to guy for every phantom with unfinished business in the city.

At the forefront of the ghostly mob is recently deceased Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear--Little Miss Sunshine, Baby Mama), who is determined to stop the remarriage of his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni--Spanglish, Fun with Dick and Jane). The laughs unfold when the prickly and romantically inexperienced Pincus, smitten with Gwen, tries to woo her away from her betrothed--with hysterically awkward results.

With sharp performances and beautifully dry Gervais execution, Ghost Town won't fail to make viewers laugh out loud. With a host of special features including commentary from renowned director David Koepp and a 'Making Ghost Town' featurette, this is one DVD that should be in the collection of every Ricky Gervais fan.

Special Features:

• Making Ghost Town
• Ghostly Effects
• Some people can do it

Customer Reviews

Absolutely brilliant! 10/10!
In `Ghost Town', Ricky Gervais plays the miserable, unfriendly dentist Bertram Pincus who during some simple colonoscopy surgery he dies for 7 minutes. After this event he begins to see ghosts who all want his help. One ghost in particular is Frank (Greg Kinnear) who died a few months ago when he is hit by a bus. He wants Pincus to stop his wife (Tia Leoni) from marrying her new boyfriend.

As well as giving us the side-splitting performance you'd normally expect from Gervais, he also shows us that he really can act. Once the love story kicks in, he really does become likeable and I found myself feeling sorry for him for being so lonely and having the ghosts following him all the time. The supporting cast are all excellent too. The script is very well written - it's not the most original story ever, with someone who sees dead people and has to help them, but it does work really well and is a clever spin on a very over-used formula.

Overall there's not really anything negative I can say about this great little comedy other than it has been extremely over-looked. If you're after a nice, heart-warming and hilarious comedy then look no further than this! I highly recommend it to anyone.

Gervais in his Perfect Role!
The dentist with dire need of a People Skills course was always going to be one for Ricky Gervais. He plays Dr. Bertram Pincus, who after having an operation and dying for 7 minutes, is annoyingly able to see ghosts. Greg Kinnear is the dead buisnessman who needs Dr. Pincus' help to break his widow Tea Leoni, and 'perfect man' Billy Campbell, up.

Ghost Town is hilariously funny with some side splitting moments (Pincus and his gag reflexes) but also with a clever storyline that makes you enjoy the film, instead of just laughing at it.
Ricky Gervais is, as always, brilliant with his sarcastic tone and his great facial expressions and the characters have all different and interesting.
A brilliant film that is guarenteed to make you laugh out loud.

Berry pleasantly surprised
After watching How To Lose Friends And Alienate People (Simon Pegg's latest foray) I wasn't overly enthused about this one. Hollywood went through a long love affair with Australians, and now it's moved on to British comedians. To its benefit. And to the detriment of the newly homogenised British comedians.

Unlike the sickly sweetness of How to Lose Friends, there are still some gloriously politically incorrect moments (such as Pincus - Gervais - asking his Indian Hindu business partner how to extract information from a hostile, to which the partner responds: "I suppose I'd ask politely...") and Gervais is absolutely the master of observational physical comedy. Make a mental note to rewind and rewatch his reaction when saying he won't be asking for morphine. It is perhaps the best little bit of acting I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

Ghost Town also stars Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni as a dead dude and his ex-wife respectively, and despite their both being seasoned actors, Gervais steals the show in every possible way. However he and Leoni have no chemistry whatsoever. None. And therein lies the problem: while it's excellent that a chubby, older misanthrope is the star of a romantic comedy, it really feels like they've shoe-horned Gervais in. Or perhaps they tacked Leoni on at the end. Either way, they have as much chemistry as two like-poles of a magnet.

So I was very much left with the impression that anyone could have played his part. Not the little asides and facial expressions and none of that vintage Gervaisiness, but the role in and of itself is a rather dull one. Truth is, Gervais is better than the script, and any actor off the street could have played it - albeit not nearly as well.

But the chemistry issue doesn't ruin it, because the romance isn't what carries the film. You see, both Leoni and Kinnear are instantly forgettable; Kristen Wiig as a vapid, self-involved surgeon deserves a nod, but Gervais and Aasif Mandviwala (Mr Aziz, the pizza guy, in Spiderman 2) give stand-out performances that will have you glued to the screen. They carry the film, and their excellence mitigates the lacklustre love story and, ultimately, renders it obsolete.

So while those 2 get 5 stars each, the rest of the film gets considerably lower, and it evens out to a hugely watchable and enjoyable 4.