Movie review: 'Ghost Town' isn't as funny as star Ricky Gervais deserves

Ricky Gervais has long been one of the funniest British comedians, along with Steve Coogan and the two guys from "The Mighty Boosh" (a Brit comedy series: find it, watch, laugh, repeat). I was sitting in a dark theater a few weeks back getting ready to watch some sort of cinematic drivel starring Vin Diesel and imagine my surprise seeing a trailer for a little movie starring that guy from "Extras" in a movie about a guy who can see dead people.

Dr. Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a lonely dentist who cannot stand people. As we meet him we see him go about his daily routines of teeth cleaning, cavity drilling and putting copious amounts of gauze into patients mouths so they cannot talk to him during their visits. He just is not a people person, and he doesn't like making conversation. As a result he lives a lonely existence in Manhattan.

One fateful fall day, he goes in for a routine colonoscopy and dies under the anesthetic. He is dead for seven minutes, and when he wakes up, he can see all the ghosts of New York City. The ghosts can speak to him, and they won't leave him alone.

One ghost in particular, Frank Herlihy, a performance clearly phoned in by Greg Kinnear, needs his help in the worst way. His widow is about to marry a scumbag and he needs the wedding stopped. So Herlihy decides to bother Pincus until he relents, finally helping him rid his widow of her new suitor. Hs widow, played by the always wonderful Tea Leoni, lives in (surprise, surprise) Bertram Pincus' building. Does Pincus stop the wedding? Who knows? Does Leoni's character fall in love with the antisocial dentist? Who cares?

Ghost Town is a pretty run-of-the-mill story with bits of Cyrano De Bergerac and "The Sixth Sense" mixed together along with a little bit of syrupy schmaltz in a giant bag of stuttering, stammering Brit comedy. If you want a good rom-com, see "Notting Hill." If you want to see Ricky Gervais at his finest, rent "The Office" (original British version) or "Extras." If you must see this one, wait for the DVD.