Monday, Sep. 22, 2008

'Ghost Town' not bad for rom-com genre

By Edward Robertson, atomictown.com

Blame it on the external genitals if you want, but the romantic comedy is just about my least favorite genre.

Unlike musicals, however -- who breaks out in song? Insane people, that's who, people who should be shocked in the head -- I'm capable of liking rom-coms. There's just something false about most of them, what with all the love and happiness. Like, 30% of my relationships start with huffing into a telephone, but you never see that in movies. I'm aware that nine hours of sobbing into an empty KFC bucket in a dark room is hardly enthralling cinema, but that would, at least in my experience, and thus the experience of everyone, more accurately capture the average Saturday night.

Most bafflingly, in rom-com-land, people not only see past each others' faults, but they also overcome their own! Instead of making each other miserable and actively sabotaging their own happiness, they become better people and shit! Forget wizards and elves, now that is an escapist genre. So Ghost Town, a romantic comedy that also involves the wandering spirits of the dead, could have been about as far removed from reality as it gets. Yet barring the ghosties, it's a lot closer to life than most of its rom-com cousins.

During a routine colonoscopy, Ricky Gervais dies for seven minutes. Upon his revival, he has the not-so-routine ability to see and speak to the scores of ghosts haunting NYC's streets. That's the last thing Gervais -- a rude, socially avoidant recluse -- wants in his life.

Cheating bastard Greg Kinnear, meanwhile, died a few months back, and is not pleased that ex-wife Tea Leoni is now reengaged. He makes Gervais a deal: break them up, and he'll get all the other ghosts to leave Gervais alone.

Gervais' first attempts do not go well. Leoni warms to his prickly wit, though. Soon, she's got doubts about the humorless do-gooder she's about to marry. Gervais, seeing her new beau's not the jerk Kinnear made him out to be, starts to have doubts of his own.

Ghost Town wouldn't be much without Gervais, who's perfectly cast as an awkward, antisocial, but effortlessly funny crank. It's easy to see why Leoni falls for him when you're busy swooning yourself. He's pulling down Manhattan dentist money, too? Damn, it's enough to make a dude line up for a sex change.

If anything, Gervais makes the leap from pathetic prick to winning funnyman with unbelievable swiftness. Sure, complaining about unrealistic personal growth in a movie where ghosts are bossing everyone around is like inviting the Predator to your vegan soiree and lecturing him after he ties your husband to the hood of his interstellar Chevy, but writers David Koepp (who also directed) and John Kamps' solid script could have been something special if they'd dug deeper into Gervais' self-induced isolation.

Or if they'd kicked the ghosts up a notch. They're mostly relegated to plot devices, a threat to throw at Gervais whenever he resists Kinnear's will rather than individuals with their own goals, which is effective if unimaginative. Still, I believe it was Chekhov who said if there's a loaded ghost in the first act, there needs to be a blood-soaked exorcism in the third.

They do keep the love story tight. Nice work there. Just wish they'd cut loose with the high-potential concept before settling into the emotional side.

It's always tricky to make the emotions work in a romantic comedy, to dodge the conventional happy ending and minimize the sap while finding something touching. Ghost Town deflects lameness by basing Gervais and Leoni's relationship on small shared moments instead of contrivances and ludicrously quirky gestures. (Screw Juno.)

That realism and Gervais' dark humor keep things grounded during the last act's heavier moments, which almost pack the melancholy punch they want to land. There's room for more insight and more fun in Ghost Town, but what's here -- a lot of character-based comedy and a sweet love story -- would be enough to stand out in any genre.

Grade: B