DHP Review: Ghost Town (movie review)

dirtyharrysplace.com ^ | September 22nd, 2008 | Dirty Harry

[Publius804]

DHP Review: Ghost Town

I dare anyone to see the splendid new romantic comedy Ghost Town and imagine an actor other than Ricky Gervais in the lead role as Bertrum Pincus, a Manhattan-based dentist so desperate to remain indifferent to the human race he chooses cruelty over contact. Without Gervais the movie had no chance. No one else could get away with playing such a thoroughly unlikable character, and without that character Ghost Town would be pure vanilla instead of what it is, the best romantic comedy to come out in years.

In screenplay parlance it’s called saving he cat – shorthand for the rule demanding your protagonist do something that will earn audience sympathy within the first twenty minutes. Not only does Bertrum not save any cats, he sneaks out on office parties, refuses to hold elevators for women burdened with packages, steals cabs and uses every opportunity to insult and dismiss anyone caught in his orbit.

Not since W.C. Fields has an actor so effectively remained watchable portraying someone so irredeemable. Fields’ secret was that we lived vicariously through his antics. Gervais’ secret, with his Lou Costello looks and Hugh Grant delivery, is an uncanny ability to project his characters’ narcissism as a shield for a pathetic pathos. It’s not that he wants to be a jerk, it’s that he simply can’t help himself. Think Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets (1997) but without affectation in place of character (good heavens, that movie’s overrated).

[rstrahan]

It’s “Ghost Whisperer” taken to the big screen. Basic story, dialog, etc is, well, ok. That’s all. But the acting takes it well beyond what it should have been in terms of a movie. A case of excellect casting. Worth a Saturday matinee, but don’t expect anything more.

[johnny7]

Harry needs a proofreader..