Blu-Ray Review: Romantic Comedy Lives in ‘Ghost Town’

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly versionE-mail page to friendE-mail page to friendPDF versionPDF version
No votes yet

CHICAGO – With three of the most charming and enjoyable leads in any romantic comedy released in 2008, David Koepp’s “Ghost Town” should find a steady and satisfied audience on Blu-Ray this winter.

The ensemble may be better than the material they’ve been given but with the amount of awful entries in the genre this year, including horror shows like “What Happens in Vegas” and “Over Her Dead Body,” it is delightful to see the unique success that is both funny and romantic. The Blu-Ray from Paramount enhances the experience with a great commentary and a few featurettes.

Ghost Town was released by Paramount Home Video on December 28th, 2008.

Ricky Gervais stars in “Ghost Town” as Bertram Pincus D.D.S., a dentist who appears to have chosen the profession just because he likes to shut people up by stuffing his dental tools in their mouth. Bertram is what you would politely call a misanthrope. After a surgical procedure goes wrong and poor Bertram ends up dead for a few minutes, he comes back to life with the ability to see dead people, including a cad crushed by an air conditioner named Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear).

Ghost Town was released by Paramount Home Video on December 28th, 2008.

The undead of “Ghost Town” are relatively harmless beings, people who can’t move on because they need Bertram to do one last thing for them. It turns out that Frank’s last wish is that his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni), not re-marry the too-good-to-be-true Richard (Billy Campbell). Frank needs Bertram, who gets along with no one, especially people of the opposite sex, to woo Gwen away from the new man. Of course, Bertram falls for Gwen and things get romantically complicated.

The screenplay for “Ghost Town” by David Koepp (the writer of “War of the Worlds,” “Spider-Man,” “Mission: Impossible” and many others) is reminiscent of ’40s and ’50s romantic comedies, but doesn’t really come together like I wished it would. The casting director for “Ghost Town” deserves a lot of credit for how well the film works in the end. They elevate a somewhat lackluster screenplay to one of the better romantic comedies of the year.

Gervais has pitch-perfect comic timing and Leoni hasn’t been this charming or enjoyable since “Flirting With Disaster”. It makes one wonder why she doesn’t play roles like this more often. Kinnear is typically strong and supporters like Campbell and the great Kristen Wiig work in their small roles. See “Ghost Town” not for the dead people on display but for the live ones chosen by the casting director.

“Ghost Town” disappointed at the box office, so it’s not surprising that Paramount doesn’t do much with the Blu-Ray release. The video in 1080p is never distracting or flat, but also not as vivid as it could have been. The audio is similarly right around par. The best thing about the Blu-Ray release for “Ghost Town” is the commentary by Gervais and Koepp and the very funny gag reel. The cast clearly had a blast and Gervais is one of the smartest comedians working today. Listening to him speak about what he does should be interesting for any fan of the art of comedy.

Finally, “Ghost Town” also includes a reasonably interesting “Making Ghost Town” featurette and a throwaway, two-minute piece on the special effects called “Ghostly Effects”. The brief extra is an interesting display of how green-screen works but it could easily have been incorporated into the longer “Making” featurette.

‘Ghost Town’ is released by Paramount Home Video and stars Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni, Greg Kinnear, and Billy Campbell, and was written by David Koepp & John Kamps and directed by Koepp. It was released on December 28th, 2008.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

User Login

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

  • Manhunt

    CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Dan Baker on WBGR-FM (Monroe, Wisconsin) on March 21st, 2024, reviewing the new streaming series “Manhunt” – based on the bestseller by James L. Swanson – currently streaming on Apple TV+.

  • Topdog/Underdog, Invictus Theatre

    CHICAGO – When two brothers confront the sins of each other and it expands into a psychology of an entire race, it’s at a stage play found in Chicago’s Invictus Theatre Company production of “Topdog/Underdog,” now at their new home at the Windy City Playhouse through March 31st, 2024. Click TD/UD for tickets/info.

Advertisement



HollywoodChicago.com on Twitter

archive

HollywoodChicago.com Top Ten Discussions
tracker