Ghost Town

[BillBrasky]

Release Date: September 19, 2008
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures (Paramount)
Director: David Koepp
Screenwriter: David Koepp, John Kamps
Starring: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Tea Leoni, Billy Campbell
Genre: Comedy
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some strong language, sexual humor and drug references)
Official Website: GhostTownmovie.com
Plot Summary: The comedy centers on a dentist (Gervais) who has a near-death experience during routine surgery and gains the ability to see dead people who ask him for help in contacting the living.

Trailer

[rabbitandox]

For some reason I like the idea of taking a classic/hackneyed premise and actually making a good movie out of it, rather than giving it the standard Eddie Murphy/Lindsay Lohan treatment. I'm looking forward to this one.

[nathansmart]

September 19th can't come soon enough

[Teaflax]

Tea Leoni? Does she have embarrassing footage of a Hollywood mogul, or something? Why else would she still be in movies?

[nathansmart]

she's not that bad is she?

I really don't even have an opinion on her.

[nathansmart]

Trailer

[Teaflax]

she's not that bad is she?

I really don't even have an opinion on her.

She's just one-note to me - annoyingly so. Could just be me, I guess.

Edited to say that she doesn't seem at all bad in this.

[nathansmart]

yeah she definitely is - I just always felt like she was never the reason to like a movie and so I can forgive her one note-ness

[ericluxury]

I think she's cast a lot because she's very pretty and she has some comedic ability. She's no Malora Hardin (Jan from The Office) or Kristen Wiig who are really funny, but she is also no Jessica Alba or Anne Hathaway who suck out the comedy. That's not a ringing endorsement necessarily, but I don't think she's terrible. When you factor in how few good starring roles there are for comedic actresses, it may not be her fault entirely.

[nathansmart]

Very pretty? I always feel like she's the "just pretty enough" choice for movies. She was definitely that choice in Spanglish.

[ericluxury]

Arguing the level of prettiness of a person is strange, but look at the modifier. Just pretty enough for movies tends to mean strikingly good-looking compared humans in general.

[nathansmart]

she is striking for sure.. but you're right, it is a weird angle to take on a person's looks

[Teaflax]

I like to take a 273.3 degree angle on a person's looks. If that makes me weird, then so be it.

[nathansmart]

i gotta be honest - it seems excessive.

[BillBrasky]

I got to see this last night, and it's a pleasant enough movie. It's kind of like "Baby Mama" in that the material on the page isn't all that great, but Gervais elevates it enough that he makes the movie enjoyable.
The best scene was the scene with Kristen Wiig, where she is trying to explain to him about how he died on the operating table, and she is being very evasive about it.
The two of them are really funny together in that scene. I hope Gervais hosts SNL to promote this (he did say on his blog, 'Maybe next year', but I don't know if he meant sometime during the next season of SNL, or next YEAR entirely, in which case maybe he'll host to promote "This Side of Truth").

[nathansmart]

Man, Gervais on SNL is a scary proposition for me. But, I guess I gotta have faith in the host to pull it off - Walken, Baldwin and Black are/were funny and Lorne couldn't do anything to stop that. Let's hope Gervais' British wit are strong enough for something like that.

And speaking of the movie - I'm so jealous of you Brasky, or maybe I'm just jealous of anyone who lives in a cooler town than I.

[mostdeaf]

I saw the movie. It was really good. the middle sags a little, but it's funny and at the end...I might have teared up some. Worth seeing. BUZZ! Funny movie movie. BUZZ!

[Mutant Despot]

Keep an eye out for UCBNY's Jeff Hiller as a naked guy.

[darrylduffy]

Keep an eye out for UCBNY's Jeff Hiller as a naked guy.

eep! i was hoping that was someone we didn't know. it seemed like they couldn't get michael ian black for that role in a way...

agreed that wiig was great again.

[mcpiranhas]

Wow, I can't believe how much they let Gervais run loose for this. The first half of the film really borders on greatness before it gets really formulaic and silly, but even then it was better than I expected. I saw it with a packed South Carolina crowd, the exact type of audience I'm sure the studio is worried about not drawing this weekend, and I swear they were putty in Ricky's hands. Seriously, he went over like gangbusters with everybody.