Ghost Town is a 2008 American fantasy comedy film directed by David Koepp, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Kamps. It stars English comedian Ricky Gervais in his first leading feature-film role, as a dentist who can see and talk with ghosts, along with Téa Leoni as a young widow and Greg Kinnear as her recently deceased husband. Gavin Polone produced the film for Spyglass Entertainment and Pariah, and it was distributed by Paramount Pictures under the DreamWorks Pictures label.

Plot

In New York City, Frank Herlihy is accidentally killed by getting hit by a bus (after narrowly avoiding a falling air conditioner moments before) while trying to buy an apartment for his mistress. A short time later, anti-social dentist Bertram Pincus is dead for seven minutes under general anesthesia during a colonoscopy.

Afterwards, Bertram can see and communicate with ghosts. They pester him to help them with unfinished personal business. Frank promises to keep the other ghosts away if Bertram breaks up an engagement between his widow Gwen, a professional Egyptologist, and Richard, a human-rights lawyer who Frank says is dishonest.

Bertram eventually agrees, trying to woo Gwen away from Richard. His past cold-hearted behavior towards Gwen makes it difficult, but he attracts her interest by analyzing the teeth of a mummified Egyptian Pharaoh she has been studying.

Bertram has dinner with Gwen and Richard, deciding that he is not so bad, but he himself begins to fall in love with her, and she enjoys his sense of humor. As Richard has a work emergency, Bertram and Gwen walk her dog and go for a drink. They share their sad stories of their last relationships. Gwen reveals that she learned of Frank s mistress the day he died.

When Richard visits Bertram for some dental work, he uses laughing gas to make him talk: Gwen has broken their engagement. Frank doesn t understand why he is still on Earth if his unfinished business was to break up Richard and Gwen.

Gwen, no longer engaged to Richard, accepts work at an archaeological dig in the Valley of the Kings for six months. As a going-away present, Bertram gets her a new key chain from a fancy jeweler s, knowing that she desperately needed one. But when he mistakenly reveals information about her that only Frank could have known, she demands the truth, and Bertram tells her the whole story about the ghosts.

Gwen doesn t believe him and demands to know what Frank s worst nightmare was. Frank lies to Bertram, telling him a fake one, and Gwen, thinking that Bertram has been lying to her, walks away and cuts him off. When he asks why Frank lied to him about the nightmare, he points out that Bertram only cares about himself.

Bertram sinks into a deep depression and asks his colleague Dr. Prashar for medication to help him forget Gwen. Dr. Prashar instead convinces him that his life would be better if he decided to stop being cynical and start helping people.

Bertram begins helping the ghosts around him with their unfinished business on Earth, bringing comfort to people they left behind and enabling the ghosts to depart. As he does this he realizes that the ghosts were still on Earth not because they had unfinished business, but because the people they were close to were not finished with them. He begins to appreciate life and the people he encounters.

Realizing Frank cannot leave because Gwen has not let him go, Bertram confronts her. She asks him to ask Frank why she wasn t enough for him. Frank says he is sorry for hurting her, which Bertram tells Gwen. She is incredulous that after his infidelity, all Frank could say is sorry and thinks that Bertram is mocking her. He rushes after her and while trying to persuade her to believe him, ironically gets hit by a bus just like Frank.

Bertram, now a ghost himself, watches with Frank as a crowd forms and Gwen sobs over him. Richard arrives on his way to the reception and tries to revive him with prayer and CPR. Seeing how upset Gwen is, Frank gives Bertram some advice that will be useful in case he is resuscitated, impliing that she loves him. After saying this, Frank finally leaves earth.

Bertram wakes up in the hospital. Later Gwen, who needs dental work, comes in for an appointment with Dr. Prashar but finds Bertram s office and says hello. He tells her of Frank s real nightmare—that of losing his way home, which was the advice Frank told him. He then assures her that Frank has found his way home . When Gwen tells him, It hurts when I smile , Bertram replies I can fix that for you .

Cast

• Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, a disillusioned dentist who gains the ability to communicate with ghosts.
• Téa Leoni as Gwen, an Egyptologist and Frank s widow.
• Greg Kinnear as Frank Herlihy, an unscrupulous ghost who enlists Bertram s help.
• Billy Campbell as Richard, Gwen s love interest, whom Frank warns is a bad man .
• Kristen Wiig as Bertram s self-involved surgeon.
• Dana Ivey as Marjorie Pickthall
• Aasif Mandvi as Dr. Prashar, Bertram s colleague.
• Alan Ruck as the ghost of a family man; he competes with Frank for Bertram s attention.
• Betty Gilpin as World War II Nurse
• Brian d Arcy James as Irish Eddie
• Brian Tarantina as Ghost Cop
• Jeff Hiller as a naked ghost.
• Michael-Leon Wooley as a medical attorney.
• Aaron Tveit as the anesthesiologist.
• Bridget Moloney as the receptionist.
• Joey Mazzarino as food delivery guy.

Production

Filming took place on the Upper East Side of New York City. Regarding his character, lead actor Ricky Gervais said, Just what America wants: a fat, British, middle-aged comedian trying to be a semi-romantic lead.

Reception

Box office

The film opened at #8 at the North American box office making USD $5,012,315 in its opening weekend.

Critical reception

Reviews of Ghost Town were mostly positive. The film holds a score of 85% from 184 reviews collected by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The site s consensus states: Ricky Gervais consistently sharp performance and beautifully dry execution transform this otherwise mainstream comedy into an endearing, funny, and altogether snappy romantic comedy. With ghosts. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a Golden Tomato for Best Romance Film of 2008. The film received a rating of 72 out of 100 on Metacritic from 30 reviews.

Roger Ebert gave the film three out of fours star in the Chicago Sun-Times, calling it a lightweight rom-com elevated by its performances and a reminder that the funniest people are often not comedians, but actors playing straight in funny roles.

Cosmo Landesman of The Sunday Times gave the film three stars (from five), calling it a light comedy full of dark people that s never quite as funny as it needs to be but which features a fine performance from Gervais.

Upon the film s March 2009 DVD release in the United Kingdom, Mark Kermode said comparing Ghost Town with Woody Allen s early funny ones may seem brash, but the gentle blend of absurdist fantasy, bittersweet romcom and deadpan physical humour evokes a string of enjoyable Allen escapades from the sci-fi slapstick of Sleeper to the ghostly charms of Alice.

Home media

Ghost Town was released in the United States on standard DVD and Blu-ray formats on December 27, 2008.

Year	2008
ReleaseDate	2008-09-19
RuntimeMins	102
RuntimeStr	1h 42min
Plot	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.
Awards	Awards, 3 wins & 2 nominations
Directors	David Koepp
Writers	David Koepp, John Kamps
Stars	Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Téa Leoni
Produced by	Gary Barber,Roger Birnbaum,Joseph E. Iberti,Gavin Polone,Ezra Swerdlow
Music by	Geoff Zanelli
Cinematography by	Fred Murphy
Film Editing by	Sam Seig
Casting By	Patricia McCorkle,John Papsidera
Production Design by	Howard Cummings
Art Direction by	Nicholas Lundy
Set Decoration by	Debra Schutt
Costume Design by	Sarah Edwards
Makeup Department	Daisy Curbeon,Christine Fennell,Lori Hicks,Michele Paris,Sacha Quarles,Cassandra Saulter
Production Management	Joseph E. Iberti,Susan Lazarus,Mark Graziano
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Jeffrey T. Bernstein,Nancy Hermann,Ted O Connor,Christian Vendetti
Art Department	Robert Barnett,Christopher Canfield,Deborah Canfield,Philip Canfield,Teresa Kelly Canfield,Justin Elterman,Chris Ferraro,Julia Garrison,Jonathan Graham,Glen A. Gregory,Christopher Heads,Richard Hoppe,Connor Jones,Tina Khayat,Alexandra Mazur,Vinny Mazzarella,Kathryn C. McGinnis,Nick Miller,Fanny Pereire,Tom Warren,Brick Mason,Wolf-Dieter Stoeffelmeier
Sound Department	Michael Barry,David Boulton,Brian Bowles,Carlos M. Cano,Krissopher Chevannes,Ryan Collison,Robert Fernandez,Matthew Haasch,Robert Hein,Eric Hirsch,Mike Howells,Bobby Johanson,Doc Kane,Nick Kray,Michael Miller,Dan Paikin,Glenfield Payne,Jay Peck,James J. Sabat Jr.,James Sabat,Bill Sweeney,David Wahnon,Paul Yurt
Special Effects by	Mark Bero,Wilfred Caban,Steven Kirshoff,Devin Maggio,Roy Savoy,John Stifanich
Visual Effects by	Tom Bardwell,Mark Bright,Cara Buckley,John J. Budion,Matt Connolly,J. John Corbett,Yaron Eini,Camille Geier,Piotr Glabinski,Ivan Andres Guerrero,Karen Heston,Christopher M.K. Hill,Yoshiko Hirata,Bora Jurisic,P. Jasmine Katatikarn,Eric Leverenz,Karin Levinson,Arman Matin,Bogdan Mihajlovic,Goran Ognjanovic,David W. Reynolds,Jim Rider,Joseph Ryals,Brad Scott,Ronen Sharabani,Vico Sharabani,Ryan S. Westphal,Sean Curran
Stunts	Bill Anagnos,Bobby Beckles,Jill Brown,John Cenatiempo,John R. Favre,Jeffrey Lee Gibson,Michael Patrick Gough,Don Hewitt,Jalil Jay Lynch,Matt Norklun,Janet Paparazzo,Veith Siglinger,Brian Smyj,Jay Spadaro,Aaron Vexler,Caroline Vexler
Camera and Electrical Department	Robert M. Andres,Eli Aronoff,Christian Baldi,Alison Barton,Mark Beattie,Angela Bellisio,Arthur Blum,Michael Cambria,Drew Cerria,Stephen Consentino,Justin Corbett,Ben D Andrea,Doug Dalisera,Russell Engels,John Geisler,John Gilgar,Timothy Healy,Nils Johnson,Philip Kathrens,Graham Klatt,John Leigh,Bruce MacCallum,Colin Oberschmidt,Jesse Panuccio,John Panuccio,Andrew Peck,Guillaume Renberg,Lance Rieck,Sarah Shatz,Chris Skutch,Eric Swanek,Lukasz Jogalla,Douglas Pellegrino
Casting Department	Heather Comer,Jennifer Cram,Dylan Jury,David H. Kramer,Joe Lopick,Christine Nelson,Lucy Pho
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Danielle Cadorette,Kate Edwards,Kevin P. Faherty,Kimmie Guiragossian,Emily Gunshor,Melissa Haley,Christina Hribar
Editorial Department	Kent Blocher,Dana Bloder,Zana Bochar,Brian Boyd,Tricia Chiarenza,Barbara Jean Kearney,Katherine Gordon Miller,Jesse Morrow,Josh Olive,Richie Roefaro,Daniel Silverman,Tim Stipan,Kevin Vale,Michael P. Whipple
Location Management	Josh Dorn,Jason Farrar,Timothy Goldberg,Evan Perazzo,Rob Roy,Marisa Vrooman
Music Department	Jeffrey Biggers,Citizen Cope,Joseph S. DeBeasi,Sandy DeCrescent,George Doering,Bruce Dukov,Steve Erdody,Bruce Fowler,Walt Fowler,Kevin Globerman,Jennifer Hawks,James S. Levine,Katia Lewin Jablonsky,Don Markese,Kevin Mills,Yvonne S. Moriarty,Kathy Nelson,Michael O Donovan,Peter Rotter,Czarina Russell,Booker White,James C. Wilkie,Geoff Zanelli,Julie Butchko,Frank Macchia,Vincent A. Villanueva
Script and Continuity Department	Mary Bailey
Transportation Department	Dan Buckman
Additional Crew	Randall Balsmeyer,Sean F. Barth,Kim Buttlar,Myo Campbell,J. John Corbett,Emily Davis,Kristyn DiPane,Lisa Falzarano,Dann Fink,Travis Gerdes,Michael Patrick Gough,Josh Harman,Harry Lapham,Rebecca Lindsey,Joseph S. Marini,Talia Mayer,Genevieve P. Metzger,Sean Murray,Leda Nornang,Lauren A. Oliver,Matthew F. Preston,Antonia Proscia,Emma Rees-Scanlon,Will Reichel,Kara Ryan,Miranda Sajdak,Salpy Semerdjian,Peter J. Silbermann,Marlena Thomas,Miriam Tielmann,Robert Tierney,Albert Valera,Marilou Vetter,T.G. Wilkinson,Clarke Williams,Adrienne Winterhalter,David Zimring,Greg Ferris,Bill Timoney
Thanks	Hope Omen Ferdowsi
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Companies	DreamWorks, Spyglass Entertainment, Pariah
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	6.7
ImDbRatingVotes	73746
MetacriticRating	72
Keywords	slipping and falling,dog walking,new york city,slimehouse,autumn