History Film / GhostTown

A 2008 supernatural comedy by writer/directer David Koepp and starring Creator/RickyGervais.

After suffering a near death experience during routine surgery, where he was technically dead for 7 minutes (a bit less), misanthropic dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais) begins seeing the ghosts of people who died with unfinished business. When the ghosts realize that Pincus can see them, they begin following him around, asking for his help in crossing over. He, of course, does his best to ignore them all, but one ghost in particular finally gets his attention: Frank (Greg Kinnear), who believes that if he can get Pincus to prevent his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni) from marrying a new guy that is completely wrong for her, he can finally cross over.

* HeelRealization: Frank spends almost the entire movie insisting that he wasn't that bad of a husband to Gwen, even though he cheated, and that her new fiancee, who is selfless and polite, is only out for her money. It's when Gwen pleadingly asks aloud why she wasn't enough for Frank that he went and cheated on her that he sees how badly he hurt her, and says that she wasn't the one who wasn't enough.

-->'''Pincus:''' Dr. Prashar - you're from a... scary country, right?

-->'''Pincus:''' But, you're not... Christian, like us?

-->'''Pincus:''' Yeah. So, um, how would you extract information from a hostile?

* YourCheatingHeart: Frank was cheating on Gwen while he was alive, and just a minute before he died he had a conversation with her on the phone, assuring her that the hotel room he booked in secret was a nice surprise for her anniversary and ''not'' for any illicit affair. Once he dies, he figures that his UnfinishedBusiness is to keep Gwen from re-marrying with a man he thinks is no good for her, but it turns out that it was Gwen's hurt over the fact that he was cheating on her that tethered him to the world of the living. She pleadingly asks Pincus why she wasn't good enough for Frank, and [[HeelRealization he realizes that it wasn't ''her'' who wasn't enough.]]

* DepravedDentist: While certainly not sadistic or even scary, Pincus wasn't winning any awards for his misanthropy and uncaring bedside manner.

* HeelRealization: Frank spends almost the entire movie insisting that he wasn't that bad of a husband to Gwen, even though he cheated, and that her new fiancee, who is selfless and polite, is only out for her money. It's when Gwen pleadingly asks Pincus why she wasn't enough for Frank that he went and cheated on her that he sees how badly he hurt her, and says that she wasn't the one who wasn't enough.

* HilariousOuttakes: One involves ''bouncing dog shit''.

* BackFromTheDead: Luckily for Pincus, [[spoiler: he doesn't have to stay a ghost for long]].

* UnfinishedBusiness: Why Walter is seeing all these ghosts. They all have some Unfinished Business that they needed to take care of--something that they didn't do or say. After Walter helps them, they disappear. He eventually figures out that it typically has less to do with the ghost themselves and more with the people still living who won't let them go.

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A 2008 film starring Creator/RickyGervais.

* LoveTriangle: A somewhat strange example, considering one of the three is dead.
** Also technically a "love quadrangle" if you count Gwen's new guy.

* RunningGag: Every time someone walks through a ghost, they sneeze. This gets cranked UpToEleven when Pincus must traverse an entire room full of ghosts, trying to get away from them all.

* DepravedDentist: While certainly not the worst kind, Pincus wasn't winning any awards for his misanthropy.

* DiceRollDeath: Double-subverted. At the beginning, Frank dodges out of the way of a falling air conditioner... by unknowingly jumping into the street, where he promptly gets hit by a bus.

* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath: What happened to Frank. He narrowly misses getting his skull caved in by a falling air conditioner. While he's marveling about this, he's hit by a truck.

* RomanticComedy: Subverted hard. For a time, the movie progresses like a quirky but typical romantic comedy - Pincus meets Gwen while just trying to deal with her ex-husband, but falls in love with her, starts a relationship based on a lie and has to deal with her perfect boyfriend, etc. However, after the point where he has to reveal the truth the movie suddenly takes a hard right into being about ''Pincus'' becoming a better person rather than their relationship, with his treatment of Gwen being one consequence of that. In the end the movie leaves it entirely up in the air whether Pincus and Gwen get together or not.

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* UnfinishedBusiness: Why Walter is seeing all these ghosts. They all have some Unfinished Business that they needed to take care of--something that they didn't do or say. After Walter helps them, they disappear.

* TakeAMomentToCatchYourDeath

* Music/TheBeatles: "I'm Looking Through You" plays over the opening title sequence; this is a rare use of an original Beatle song in a film soundtrack as opposed to a cover version.

After suffering a near death experience during routine surgery, where he was technically dead for 7 minutes (a bit less), misanthropic dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais) begins seeing the ghosts of people who died with unfinished business. When the ghosts realize that Pincus can see them, they begin following him around, asking for his help in crossing over. He, of course, does his best to ignore them all, but one ghost in particular finally get's his attention: Frank (Greg Kinnear), who believes that if he can get Pincus to prevent his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni) from marrying a new guy that is completely wrong for her, he can finally cross over.

* CanisMajor: Gwen's Great Dane. Pincus remarks, "I like your horse!"