Genre - Comedy/RomanceYear Released - 2008
Running Time - 102 minutes
Directed by David Koepp (Stir of Echoes and Secret Window)
Written by David Koepp (who has written quite a few, including Toy Soldiers, Death Becomes Her, Panic Room, etc) and John Kamps (who also wrote The Borrowers and Zathura)
Cast Includes:
Ricky Gervais (Stardust and Night at the Museum)
Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets, Mystery Men, We Were Soldiers, You've Got Mail, and Unknown)
Tea Leoni (Nora from the television series The Naked Truth as well as Bad Boys, Jurassic Park III, and You Kill Me)
Rating: 3 Skulls
Plot Summary:
Bertram Pincus is a hapless gent who's pronounced dead, only to be brought back to life with an unexpected gift: a newfound ability to see ghosts.
When Bertram crosses paths with the recently departed Frank Herlihy, he gets pulled into Frank's desperate bid to break up his widowed wife's pending marriage to another man.
Review:
This is a movie that, for whatever reason, I had not heard of. My wife is the one who brought it to my attention, by asking me to add it to Netflix. . .
Also, I am not too familiar with Ricky Gervais, but this guy is hysterical - in this film, he played the character of Bertram, a dentist who, while undergoing a routine colonoscopy, dies on the table, for just under 7 minutes. After he is revived, he suddenly has the ability to see people who normally can't be seen ~ ghosts. [Something very original in this film is that whenever another person walks through a ghost, they sneeze - I thought that was pretty cool!]
When ghosts start realizing that Bertram is able to see them, they began to bombard him - one ghost in particular [played by Greg Kinnear] starts harassing Bertram to help him break up his widowed wife's engagement to another man.
It is predictable what will happen next, however it is still worthwhile.
What makes the movie is Ricky Gervais and his portrayal of Bertram - Bertram is not the friendliest guy on the block by any means - he tells you what is on his mind, without holding back, which is hysterical!
Here's the trailer:
Well worth renting! If you don't feel like renting this one, at least keep an eye out for it after it hits television!
Jason
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8 comments:
I'll have to check this out. I only know of Ricky Gervais because of my fiancee, she's a HUGE fan of the original British version of The Office, and like you said, Gervais is hysterical! He's just so damn goofy.
I do like Greg Kinnear though, he should be in more movies. Very under rated guy... I loved him in Auto Focus!!
Great review, I'll keep this in mind as my significant other's favorite films are Rom/Coms.
Cool - let me know what you guys think, after you have seen it.
I have never seen Auto Focus [in fact, I've never even heard of it] I will have to look that one up!
J
i saw this in the theatre. i liked it mostly for the performances and the characters than the story which was a little predictable at times. it was a pretty enjoyable movie none the less.
Ricky Gervais is one of the funniest people on the planet in my opinion. watch the british version of the Office. his character is a lot different than the one in the US version of the Office. just as funny but totally different.
one thing i remember not being resolved at the end of the movie was the naked ghost. that bothered me.
Never heard of Auto Focus? Oh man! Its a great movie! Kinnear plays Bob Crane and follows his beginnings on the show Hogan's Hero's up until his mysterious murder. The movie also is extremely funny in a dark way. Willem Dafoe is the biggest freaking creep in it, he's amazing!
Auto Focus was good, definitely check it out.
I will have to look out for this one. I remember the previews but never saw it in theaters.
Tell me... do you work for Netflix?
Heh... Keep up the great reviews man!
WIEC,
What resolution were you wanting for the naked ghost? [other than a pair of clothes] :-)
Mike & Wings, I have gone ahead and added Auto Focus to my Netflix Queue. . .
[Netflix ~ I bet they would be cool to work for!]
J
How did you not know about this one? I loved it. Ricky Gervais is hilarious! If you have time to sneak in the show "Extras" try it out. He is hilarious!
I don't know Lisa. . . it totally flew under my radar!
Thanks for the recommendation regarding Extras - I'll check it out [one day] :-)
J
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