Ghost Town

Both very funny and a bit of a tearjerker, with an on-the-money performance from Ricky Gervais.

A welcome surprise: a supernatural romantic comedy that works, graced with a cast just off-center enough to make it distinctive.

It's a smooth journey across familiar territory to a safe emotional harbor, always professional and occasionally delightful.

A lightweight rom-com elevated by its performances. It is a reminder that the funniest people are often not comedians, but actors playing straight in funny roles.

Once Leoni's Gwen comes on the scene, the movie starts to bubble along nicely. Not just because Leoni is a screwball heroine worth, er, screwballing--at 42, she's more attractive than ever--but because her character is given a weight and texture that's rare in a movie of this type.

In Koepp's comedic variation on a similar theme, the dead are not just unhappy -- they're irritatingly needy.

If it sounds all so pale and predictable, it is.

In his first lead role, Ricky Gervais does a great job of keeping this nice, subdued film together. Gervais will always portray different incarnations of himself, but here he restrains himself more than usual and creates a compelling performance as Doctor Pincus, a lonely dentist with social anxiety. Following his near-death experience, Pincus develops the ability to see ghosts. The ghosts implore Pincus to take actions that will allow them to be freed and enter the afterlife. Pincus is hesitant to do this until he encounters Frank, the spirit of Gwen's deceased husband who resides in his apartment building.

This was a tricky one because it started out very strong, dipped in the middle and pretty much became cringe-worthy, before picking up towards the end making for a very uneven film. Both Gervais & Kinnear were quite irritating most of the time and because they were playing unlikable character it's the main reason why I didn't really enjoy the film. The concept, however, was great and the main reason why I did like the rest of the film so overall a tough one to judge.

Ricky Gervais is a comedian genius and is supported by a fine cast here. The film itself however, even though it kicks off well, as it progresses the laughs are far between.

Overelaborate and distasteful, Ghost Town is annoying, dull, and you will be checking your watch to see when you can get out of this movie hell. Ricky Gervais is rude, unlikable, and uninteresting. Greg Kinnear doesn't provide comic relief like he should've. This whole movie is a bad film disguised as a good one.

Felt very dated - and not in the good way. Special effects felt like a made-for-TV movie, complete with 'whoosh' sounds as ghosts pass through doors. The sneezing effect was funny the first time, not the thirtieth. The conversations between Gervais and Wiig and the lawyer were the best part of the film. The biggest complaint I have, though, is that the movie seems to start out as a comedy, then goes into a corny romcom, then tries to be emotional and dramatic. But the dramatic stuff feels very forced, very cliche, very cheesy. The whole film felt empty and on autopilot. Seems like one of those movies meant to fill seats and sell tickets and DVDs; no real aspirations or content to walk away with. Sure, not every movies needs to be a life-changing experience, but unlike, say, a light-hearted Adam Sandler comedy, this movie seems to think it is something deep and affecting. Really, really corny film.