If you ask the average American TV or movie watcher who Ricky Gervais is, the best answer you could hope for would be “Isn’t he the guy who did the British version of The Office?” The answer would be correct, and subsequently wrong all at the same time. Sure, Gervais was the brains behind the BBC Office series and the guy who brought it across the Atlantic Ocean to where it is now one of the most popular shows on TV — but that certainly isn’t all there is to his story. In fact, even I am not vested in the full-Gervais. Before heading in to see his new film Ghost Town this week, I was aware of his role with The Office, and his other TV show Extras, both of which had found success. But was I ready for Ricky Gervais the movie star? Obviously not.
In Ghost Town, Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, D.D.S., a surly man living in New York whose goal in life is to be left alone. He has neither the time nor the patience to deal with the throngs of people that he encounters on a daily basis. Of course, it only gets worse after he has a near death experience after an ill-advised bout with anesthetics during a colonoscopy. Now, not only does he have to deal with the living, but he can also see and hear the dead.
Among the dead folks that have become the latest annoyance in his life is Frank, played by Greg Kinnear, a bullish New York business man who was killed in a freak accident on the same day that his wife, played by Téa Leoni, found out about his 20-something Yoga instructor girlfriend. Now Frank needs Dr. Pincus to make things right by breaking up his wife’s new romance with a human rights lawyer.
The story, which was devised in part by director David Koepp, is a pretty simple and unimaginative one. Koepp, whose writing credits include Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Spider-Man, is a bit out of his element with a romantic comedy, and it shows. The characters in the supporting cast are shallow archetypes — silly clichés that could have been stripped from any of the thousand or so other formulaic rom-coms that have graced the silver screen since the 80s. To his credit though, the likes of Greg Kinnear are still relatively entertaining, even when they are phoning in their performance.
Yet despite a creatively hollow script and characters that fall flatter than the pages upon which they are written, Ghost Town still finds success riding on the coattails of its star, the incomparable Ricky Gervais. The character of Bertram Pincus may be the exact same character to which he is accustomed to playing, but that doesn’t stop him from delivering the laughs. His deadpan delivery and wry wit have never failed him in the past, nor are they failing him in this performance. As well, his wit is met with equal resistance in one particular scene from SNL alum Kristen Wiig, who plays the doctor who accidentally kills him during his routine butt-surgery. It is enough for me to conclude that I could watch the two of them converse uncomfortably for 2 hours, and that would be entertainment enough for me.
Taken in as “The Ricky Gervais Show,” this movie is a lot of fun. As well, if the unimaginative story put together by Koepp and his team of writers does one thing right, it is that it stays out of the way. As if to say that the filmmakers knew exactly what would make the film work — turn on the camera, insert the supporting cast, and let Ricky Gervais do his thing. If you are one of those American moviegoers who struggles to answer that “Who is Ricky Gervais?” question, this should make for a nice introduction, as it is Gervais at his best in a movie that is, overall, relatively enjoyable. It’s good for a laugh or two, obviously.
The Upside: Ricky Gervais is as funny as anyone else on this planet. In many ways, he is a one man comedic wrecking ball.
The Downside: If you remove Gervais from the equation, there is nothing left to this otherwise unimaginative film.
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评论：《幽灵小镇》[电影影评]
如果你要问普通的美国电视或电影观众谁是瑞奇·热尔维，你想要的最好的答案可能是“他不是那个英国版电视剧《办公室风云》的制片人吗？”这应该是一个正确的答案，但同时，这个答案也是错误的。当然，热尔维是英国电视喜剧《办公室风云》的幕后主要制片人，同时，也正是他让这部电视剧横跨大西洋到达美国。如今在美国，《办公室风云》成为了最受观众欢迎的电视剧之一。——然而他的事迹并非仅仅如此。其实，甚至是我也不能给予一个完整的热尔维。这周，我将去观看他的新作，电影《幽灵小镇》。在此之前，我已意识到了他在《办公室风云》和另一部电视剧《临时演员》两部佳作中的起到的作用。但是，此次他作为电影明星登场，我准备好了吗？很显然我没有。
在 《幽灵小镇》中，热尔维扮演伯特伦·平库斯，一个生活在纽约的坏脾气男人。他的生活目标就是独自生活。他既没有时间也没有耐心去处理各种各样他每天都要遇到的人。有一次他不明智做了一个结肠镜检查，与麻醉剂进行了一番生死较量。当然，历经了这场差点要死去的事情之后，他对人的态度更恶劣了。现在，他不但要处理活在人世间的琐事，还要耳闻死人的故事。
在那些死人当中，有一个人成为了他最近生活的一大烦恼。他就是由格雷戈·金尼尔扮演的弗兰克。弗兰克是一个愚蠢顽固的纽约商人，死于一场特殊事件。在他死掉的同一天，他的妻子，由蒂亚·里欧妮扮演，发现他在外面有一个20多岁的女友，一名瑜伽教练。现在弗兰克需要医生平库斯拆散他妻子与新情人，破坏她与这位人权维护律师的感情。
这个由导演大卫·凯普设计的故事很简单并且缺乏想象力。大卫·凯普，作为《夺宝奇兵4：水晶头骨》和《蜘蛛侠》的编剧，获得了很多好评。这两部剧都带有一些浪漫喜剧的色彩。演员阵容里的个性尊重原型——自从80年后就被上千部电影搬上荧屏的笨拙的俗套。但因为他的美誉，对格雷戈·金尼尔的喜爱依旧让人感到这部电影很有趣，甚至是他们在表演中打电话的一幕也很有意思。
然而，尽管剧本和人物创造性的空洞，不及它写在纸上生动，《幽灵小镇》依靠它的明星阵容，和无人能及的瑞奇·热尔维取得了胜利。特伦·平库斯的人物特点与他一直以来扮演的角色相差无几，但这并没有阻止他取悦观众。他不动声色的传达笑意和讽刺的幽默从来没有让他失败过。在这部电影中也是如此。同时，在一幕与克里斯汀·韦格的对手戏中，他们来了一场才智大比拼。克里斯汀·韦格扮演一名意外死于他常规的手术室中。荧屏上他们困难地谈话长达两个小时，这足以让我感到饶有兴趣。 像观看“瑞奇·热尔维剧”一样去欣赏，这部电影无疑趣味无穷。同时，只要落入俗套的故事加上凯普和他创作团队的倾力协作，这部电影就足以脱颖而出。就像我们说电影摄制者知道什么样的电影受人青睐一样——打开相机，配角上场，让瑞奇·热尔维做他该做的事。如果你是一个美国影迷，想问清楚到底谁是瑞奇·热尔维，这部电影也许会是一个不错的介绍，因为从整体上说，瑞奇·热尔维在这部电影里展现了他最后的一面。
优点：瑞奇·热尔维的幽默无人能及。很多情况下，他无疑是一个开心果。
缺点：如果没有了瑞奇·热尔维，这部电影就会变成一部缺乏新意的电影，没有什么值得一看的了。
