Ghost Town - review

You may think that 'Ghost Town', a very mainstream film about a rude short stocky bloke, is an odd choice for a Mookychick review. Well, you'd be right. But it has Ricky Gervais in it. And that makes everything better.

We've never liked being boxed in, and a film can be good even if it's popular, and even if it doesn't feature powerful women, zombies or - and such films are becoming rarity - Johnny Depp.

Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais, a master of deadpan comedy) is a short stocky bloke who's a dentist, and one of the reasons he's okay with looking inside people's mouths is it means they can't talk to him. He doesn't hate people - he just doesn't like them, on the whole.

A colonoscopy gone wrong leaves Bertram still alive, but able to talk to the dead, who soon drop the gratitude for the extra company and start becoming somewhat demanding. Bertram reluctantly finds himself helping the life-challenged whingers and - in spite of himself - he falls for feisty archeologist and mummy-lover Gwen.

Can Bertram discover his inner romantic in time? Maybe. Can he come to terms with his ability to see the dead. It depends on who's asking. Is he a character worthy of Ricky Gervais's talents? Most definitely. Can a city full of ghosts scare Bertram into becoming a nice and decent person? Pah.

This endearing, thoughtful, charming and dryly funny film is worth of the man who created The Office and is a mainstream movie that doesn't disappoint.

Oh, and if you're reading this before 14 March 2009 you can still enter our Ghost Town competition, if you like.

Try it. It's sweet. You might like it.

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