GHOST TOWN [PG-13]
review by Robert Newton

Ricky Gervais is a comedy star, and anyone who doesn’t believe it from seeing him on the original British “Office” or HBO’s “Extras” cannot ignore that fact after watching him lay it down like the pro he is in this old-fashioned comedy by esteemed mercenary scribe David Koepp (”Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull”).

Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a New York dentist who, after dying for 7 minutes during a surgical procedure, can talk with the dead. Naturally, they all have One Last Thing to resolve before going into the light, and they all call on Pincus to help them with it. And of course, being the miserable misanthrope that he is, just wants them to leave him alone so that he can get on with the business of being a miserable misanthrope. But then he meets Gwen (Téa Leoni), the widow of suave philanderer Frank (Greg Kinnear). Their first encounter is awkward at best (he’s in the habit of stealing her cabs and not holding the elevator for her), but they eventually connect, even though she doesn’t know that he is on a mission from Frank and his ethereal brethren.

The concept is far-fetched, but Koepp and company sell it from the start. Gervais is hilarious, never letting his grasp slip once during his believable transformation from jerk to jester. Kinnear makes it look easy, too, giving us just as many reasons to like and despise Frank. Leoni is a great foil for Gervais (or any strong comic actor for that matter), playing with him in every scene in service of the story and not herself. And the story itself is full of lots of nice little treats, from the ghosts who spend their limbo life in the clothes they died in to the warm asides that Koepp sneaks in. They all make for a sweet, modern-day “Topper” that’s impossible to dislike, even if you don’t believe in spooks.•••

Robert Newton is the editor of WorcesterMovies.