Ghost Town

Ghost Town – After antisocial dentist, Dr Pincus, temporarily dies on the operating table during a routine bowel operation, he starts being followed by dozens of ghosts of people who have unfinished business. Not wanting to get involved, Pincus does everything he can to avoid them. However, he meets the wife of one of the ghosts and starts to have feelings for her; she likes him but his prickly demeanour keeps her at arm’s length. Realising that he has to change his ways, he begins to help the ghosts and sees that purely living a life for himself is not as fulfilling as he once thought.

Ghost Town (2008) – Director: David Koepp

Rating: 12

Running Length: 102 mins

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni

Genre: Comedy

REVIEW: ‘GHOST TOWN’

In his debut as a leading man in a feature film, Ricky Gervais continues to play to his strengths as a man who is endearingly unlikeable – much like his previous roles in ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’. Taking the usual premise of someone who can ‘see dead people’ and either being terrified or desperate to help, ‘Ghost Town’ turns this concept on its head to make Pincus not only indifferent but thoroughly annoyed by his newfound ‘gift’.

‘Ghost Town’ doesn’t exactly set the world on fire but it is funny and warm enough to make the audience feel comfortable from start to finish. While Pincus is deliberately unpleasant, he isn’t so bad as to make the audience hate him; instead he is just disappointing in his self-absorbed actions. It is interesting that this movie’s two main characters, Pincus and Frank (played by Greg Kinnear), are both unlikeable (Frank was cheating on his wife before he died). This is a potentially risky move because if the audience struggles to engage with the characters, they are unlikely to care about their issues. Fortunately this is handled well by making them have not only bad personality traits but also realistic good ones which ensures that they are believable.

Overall, ‘Ghost Town’ is an entertaining comedy that may not be overly controversial like some of Gervais’ other works but that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

CONTENT: IS ‘GHOST TOWN’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Towards the beginning of the movie, a man who has recently been established as an unlikeable character is hit by a bus and killed. This happens very suddenly and although no blood or gore is seen, it could be quite upsetting for young children. A similar accident occurs again later in the movie.

One of the major characters in the movie, Frank, has been having an affair behind his wife’s back. He is unremorseful and even gets annoyed with someone who could have accidentally let his secret out. He is supposed to be unpleasant but the idea of a major comedic character with dubious morals may not be to everyone’s taste; parents may not want their children to watch a movie where someone treats infidelity as a way of life.

There is a close-up of a mummy’s face which is quite graphic but not too grotesque. One character makes reference to the mummy’s private parts saying that ‘he died happy’.

One of the male ghosts is naked (the ghosts ‘wear’ the clothes they had on when they died), however nothing explicit is shown and, other than a time when he sneaks into Pincus’ home, he is only seen in the background – from the waist up!

One character talks about his bowel movements and says that one particular time ‘was like a terrorist attack down there’. Prostitutes, pornography and the cocktail ‘Screaming Orgasm’ are mentioned, a character is asked whether they ‘are still in the sex trade’ and the word ‘pervert’ is used a couple of times.

Parents are likely to be most concerned with the frequent moderate and strong cursing throughout the movie which is impossible to avoid.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘GHOST TOWN’ FOR KIDS?

‘Ghost Town’ is a thoroughly enjoyable comedy movie that is both refreshing and familiar, making it comfortable to watch without being boring or cliché. Due to the dialogue and strong language, we feel that this movie should be appropriate for kids aged 10 and over.

• Violence: 0/5
• Emotional Distress: 2/5 (one scene, where some of the ghosts are helped to go to heaven, is quite touching)
• Fear Factor: 0/5
• Sexual Content: 3/5 (this is dialogue based, no physical intimacy is referred to or seen) 
• Bad Language: 5/5
• Dialogue: 5/5 (one of the ghosts tries to persuade Pincus to shoot someone, in the background he can be heard saying ‘give him two in the head, leave the gun…’ before someone else speaks and his dialogue can no longer be heard)
• Other notes: Deals with themes of helping people in need, how being antisocial and selfish is less fulfilling than being kind and considerate to others, letting go of the past and changing your ways to become a better person.

Words by Laura Record

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