Powerful

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could like this turd of a movie. Dr. Bertram Pincus is as unlikable a character as has ever been written... and he's our "hero". Greg Kinear's underwear smear, AKA Frank, is even worse. How are we suppose to care about a man, living or dead, who is happily cheating on his wife with a much younger woman. When his character died at the beginning of the movie, I clapped. I clapped as happily as I did when Steven Seagal's Lt. Col. Travis died at the beginning of Executive Decision.Unfortunately, I knew Frank would be haunting me for the rest of the movie. Trying hard to make me care for him. I don't. I want him to rot in hell for eternity, and Dr. Pincus can join him. Why should I want Pincus and Gwen to live happily ever after? Pincus is the slime on the heels of humanity, just like Frank was before. Gwen deserves better.

I just could not help when watching this movie this gnawing feeling deep inside that something was terribly wrong. Halfway through, Mel Gibson and Jerry Seinfeld came to mind. That is... Mel Gibson as Frank and Jerry Seinfeld as Pincus. THAT would have been a truly funny, well executed movie. Think "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson. And for Gwen's part... how bout Drew Barrymore? Okay, the fees for these people would have been high...but well worth it.I watched the movie through the lens of these new cast members injected into the rather blase renditions caused either by inept direction or just a bad read by Gervais, Leoni, and Kinnear. I wanted to fall asleep at times. Then when hearing instead through my mind's eyes and ears Seinfeld, Gibson, and Barrymore... the script is ingeniously hysterical and funny... and should have been. Chalk it up to lack of knowledge of young directors and producers. Ah Hollywood... if you could only get it right. I cry for the writers whose funny wordsmiths get crushed by lazy direction and acting. Altogether though... a very engaging script... if executed poorly, at best. They called this one in... but try to watch it like you are reading a book. That is, ignore the acting and direction, and see it done right by masters of comedy and Spielberg worthy direction.

'Ghost Town' is an interesting concept, that gets it right, but Fine Performances lead this Supernatural Comedy!'Ghost Town' Synopsis: Bertram Pincus is a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts.'Ghost Town' has the ability to make its viewer smile, and thats no mean achievement. Its a sweet & simple film, that doesn't tax your brain, but ends up touching the core of your heart. The only problem was in its slow-pace, which needed some serious persuasion. David Koepp & John Kamps's Screenplay is mostly right. Koepp's Direction, on the other-hand, is subtle. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, are accurate.Performance-Wise: Ricky Gervais, Téa Leoni & Greg Kinnear lead the narrative with fine performances. Gervais is delightfully wonderful, Leoni is masterfully restrained & Kinnear is simply excellent. On the whole, 'Ghost Town' has fine acting & fine writing working to its advantage.

A ghost story and a love story, ánd a better thyself story. There are plenty of both of those, and I'm usually not up for them, but with this combination, and with this cast (particularly Gervais, but also Leoni and Kinnear) and David Koepp as director and writer I couldn't resist. Even this third viewing was well worth my time. Of course, you could really dig into the story's details and try to take apart every little thing about it (for instance, why doesn't he sue the hospital? He would have a fair chance if they'd made him sign a waver when he was still pretty much under narcosis), but it is simply beyond the point of the film.I simply like this one, and here is why: the chemistry between the actors is excellent, the story has plenty of twists and turns and it is more than adequately filmed. Sure, things get quite sentimental at times, easy romantic comedy lurks in many corners, and near the end things go a little too smoothly, but still, this one definitely has its charms. In fact, it reminded me somewhat of those grand old comedies from Billy Wilder, harboring a certain amount of innocence and playfulness which is rather hard to find these days. And finally, Gervais and the script bring plenty of sharpness and darkness to it.A good 7 out of 10.