BOTTOM LINE: Although billed as a comedy, “Ghost Town” is more a light-hearted character drama which may disappoint those looking for more from Ricky Gervais who puts in an understated performance in this talky and slower-paced film.

THE GOOD: What makes “Ghost Town” a different take on the usual for the genre is that the ‘ghost’ idea is merely a device to set up interactions between selfish dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) and his unwelcome encounters with people, dead or alive. Learning that he died for seven minutes after a routine operation, Pincus suddenly finds himself with the ability to see dead people… and they annoy him. Predictably, this leads to some funny situations, such as the naked ghost sitting beside his bed while he sleeps, or the ethnic mob guy who wants him to do a hit on someone he dislikes. Ultimately, Pincus has most of his encounters with a ghost who was also a formerly selfish man in Frank (Greg Kinnear). Pincus strikes a deal with Frank that if he helps Frank, then Frank will get the ghosts to stop bothering him. This entails getting involved in the life of Frank’s former wife Gwen (Tea Leoni), whom Pincus starts to fall in love with. In the end, Pincus learns to be more giving and Frank learns some truths about his misdeeds and Gwen. “Ghost Town” is a bit of a surprise; the previews suggested a more silly comedy with Gervais’ brand of humour, but the resulting film is somewhat more cerebral and subtle than that. In some ways this is a plus, leading to some more character-driven sequences than what you would otherwise expect. Ricky Gervais carries the film very well and proves he is quite adept as an actor, and is somewhat restrained here in his performance. Kinnear and Leoni are also quite solid in their respective roles. David Koepp shows his flair as a screenwriter with some very good dialogue between the characters, leading to some funny and tender moments. Perhaps the best part of “Ghost Town” is that it does not over-use its high concept premise, and for much of the time it feels more like a character piece rather than a genre film.

THE BAD: The film does not quite know where it sits; it is not a comedy, nor a supernatural film, nor a drama or a character piece, yet it tries to fuse all of these disparate elements together but with less than satisfactory results. Pincus is setup as a virtual stereotype from the outset, yet somehow he manages to catch the attention of Gwen with an insult which subsequently starts his heart-warming transformation that feels more arbitrary in the first instance rather than natural. This arbitrary transformation also abruptly changes the tone of the film from its ‘comedy’ origin to a more ‘indie’ flick feel. The film is very talky, which slows the pace of the film down considerably. This might not have been a bad thing if the filmmakers did not feel they had to put some comedy in to the film with some awful sequences, starting with the scene where Pincus and his doctor continually interrupt each other in the hospital, or the more shocking and slapstick-style quality of the scenes were both Pincus and Frank get hit by a bus. “Ghost Town” has a high concept comedic premise which has been executed by a director who has a more cerebral and dialogue-driven sensibility and the marriage between the two is uncomfortable at best.