Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
49
2012
53
Alice in Wonderland
41
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
84
Avatar![]()
69
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
53
Blind Side
53
Book of Eli, The
25
Bounty Hunter, The
43
Brooklyn's Finest
55
Christmas Carol, A
31
Cop Out
55
Crazies, The
57
Daybreakers
43
Dear John
56
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
27
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
55
Edge of Darkness
45
Extraordinary Measures
83
Fantastic Mr. Fox![]()
42
From Paris with Love
61
Green Zone
xx
Hot Tub Time Machine
65
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The
74
Invictus
57
It's Complicated
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Leap Year
32
Legion
42
Lovely Bones, The
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
34
Ninja Assassin
19
Old Dogs
39
Our Family Wedding
47
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
39
Planet 51
79
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73
Princess & the Frog, The
69
Redbelt
40
Remember Me
31
Repo Men
64
Road, The
57
Sherlock Holmes
47
She's Out of My League
63
Shutter Island
27
Spy Next Door, The
36
Tooth Fairy
44
Twilight Saga: New Moon, The
83
Up in the Air![]()
34
Valentine's Day
25
When in Rome
71
Where the Wild Things Are
43
Wolfman, The
63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
67
3 Idiots
47
44 Inch Chest
82
Ajami![]()
71
American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
73
Amreeka
75
Art of the Steal, The
43
Barefoot to Timbuktu
19
Bitch Slap
49
Blood Done Sign My Name
xx
Bluebeard
24
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76
Broken Embraces
52
Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
67
Children of Invention
53
Chloe
68
City Island
64
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
84
Cove, The![]()
83
Crazy Heart![]()
21
Crazy on the Outside
51
Creation
xx
Daddy Long Legs
81
Damned United, The![]()
57
Defendor
61
Delta
68
Departures
64
District 13: Ultimatum
72
Easier with Practice
xx
Eclipse, The
85
Education, An![]()
61
Exploding Girl, The
70
Eyes Wide Open
24
Falling Awake
81
Fish Tank![]()
56
For My Father
52
Formosa Betrayed
xx
From Mexico with Love
43
Frozen
xx
Ghost Town
77
Ghost Writer, The
69
Girl on the Train, The
75
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The
47
Good Guy, The
76
Greenberg
35
Happy Tears
68
Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
20
Harlem Aria
76
IMAX: Hubble 3D
11
Killing Jar, The
52
Killing Kasztner
xx
Kimjongilia
41
Last New Yorker, The
76
Last Station, The
47
Little Traitor, The
51
Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
71
Lourdes
73
Me and Orson Welles
77
Messenger, The
79
Mid-August Lunch
57
Missing Person, The
76
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
80
Mother
50
My Name is Khan
85
Neil Young Trunk Show![]()
49
Nine
67
North Face
64
October Country
67
Off and Running
52
Paranoids, The
40
Phyllis and Harold
49
Pop Star on Ice
49
Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
74
Prodigal Sons
xx
Promised Lands (Re-release)
90
Prophet, A![]()
76
Red Riding Trilogy, The
65
Runaways, The
32
Saint John of Las Vegas
83
Secret of Kells, The![]()
69
September Issue, The
36
Serious Moonlight
57
Severe Clear
63
Shinjuku Incident, The
35
Shutterbug
77
Single Man, A
76
Still Bill
34
Stolen
xx
Suicide Girls Must Die!
52
Tales from the Script
74
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
47
To Die for Tano
19
To Save a Life
63
Toe to Toe
69
Town Called Panic, A
54
Until the Light Takes Us
60
Videocracy
84
Vincere![]()
66
Waiting for Armageddon
45
White on Rice
82
White Ribbon![]()
xx
White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, The
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Yellow Handkerchief, The
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Ghost Town
EMAILPRINTDreamWorks Pictures (Paramount)

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 30 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 53 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Fantasy | Romance
Written by:
David Koepp
John Kamps
Directed by: David Koepp
Release Date:
Theatrical: September 19, 2008
DVD: December 23, 2008
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some strong language, sexual humor and drug references
Starring Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Tea Leoni, and Billy Campbell
Bertram Pincus is a man whose skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, particutarly Frank Herlihy who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. That puts Pincus squarely in the middle of a triangle with spirited results. (Paramount Pictures/Dreamworks Pictures)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Secret Window Stir of Echoes
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Website
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego
Both very funny and a bit of a tearjerker, with an on-the-money performance from Ricky Gervais.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
A winning mix of sharp comedy and touching bits that keeps the laughter -- a few tears -- flowing.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Stephen Holden
A misanthropic dentist, a roguish ghost and a zany Egyptologist: as these unlikely companions scamper around Manhattan in the buoyant comedy Ghost Town, they resurrect the spirits of classic movie curmudgeons like W. C. Fields and such romantic comedians as Cary Grant and Carole Lombard in Woody Allen territory.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
A welcome surprise: a supernatural romantic comedy that works, graced with a cast just off-center enough to make it distinctive.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The twists are executed superbly, right up to a climax that fits the David Mamet definition of what makes for a perfect ending: It is both surprising and inevitable.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The astonishingly versatile Kinnear proves note-perfect as a huckster who slowly rids himself of slime.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
A sweet and hilarious romantic comedy featuring a breakout performance by British comic genius Ricky Gervais, inspires viewers to pause, reflect and praise one of the most rare and wondrous occurrences in contemporary cinema: the Good Movie.
Read Full Review >Variety John Anderson
Smartly supernatural, and featuring sensational performances by Ricky Gervais and Tea Leoni, Ghost Town is a "Topper" for our times.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Leoni and Kinnear are charming, and Koepp keeps the mood appropriately light. But really, this would be just another disposable comedy if it weren't for our unassuming star.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Ghost Town is a rarity, a contemporary romantic comedy that honors the traditions of the genre without checking them off some plasticized list. The picture is breathing, and alive, every minute.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
It sounds sappy, and sometimes it is, but director Koepp and co-writer John Kamps stay alert to the humor and pathos of Bertram's isolation.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A lightweight rom-com elevated by its performances. It is a reminder that the funniest people are often not comedians, but actors playing straight in funny roles.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray
Though the plot contrives to throw Gervais and Leoni together and then pull them apart, the two leads stay consistently in sync through it all, laughing at each other's jokes and generally sharing the kind of normal adult communication that's often missing from movies about people falling in love.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
An innovative romantic comedy that is a mixture of British spice and American sugar.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Connie Ogle
Predictable but amusing. The painfully awkward, stubby Gervais as romantic lead is a funny enough concept, but the actor's ongoing banter with Kinnear is engaging, and their styles mesh entertainingly.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
A good-natured and engaging fantasy/romantic comedy in the tradition of "Heaven Can Wait" or even "Topper."
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
It's a smooth journey across familiar territory to a safe emotional harbor, always professional and occasionally delightful.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Once Leoni's Gwen comes on the scene, the movie starts to bubble along nicely. Not just because Leoni is a screwball heroine worth, er, screwballing--at 42, she's more attractive than ever--but because her character is given a weight and texture that's rare in a movie of this type.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Audiences who feel battered by Hollywood's usual hard-sell approach to farce may be disarmed by Koepp's soft touch and inclined to credit blandness as understatement.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
In this comedy by David Koepp, Gervais handles the big, crowd-pleasing gags with aplomb.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Diverting enough, but it's also the kind of high-concept studio concoction Ricky Gervais might have ridiculed in his great backstage-showbiz sitcom "Extras."
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones
But by the time this imperfect little film wends its way to one of the most winning exit lines I've heard in a long time, it's turned into something, well, perfectly lovely.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Ghost Town reworks "Ghost" as a romantic comedy with a miserable hero who sees dead people and is really annoyed by them.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Someone once said about W.C. Fields that he had the rare ability to despise amusingly. I can imagine no greater compliment than to say that Ricky Gervais seems, at his best, like a young Fields.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
One of those romantic comedies that never quite clicks. At times, its humor is effective, provoking chuckles and laughs. At other times, the comedy feels forced and awkward.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
In Koepp's comedic variation on a similar theme, the dead are not just unhappy -- they're irritatingly needy.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Eventually, though, Ghost Town buckles beneath the weight of contrivance -- so many ghosts to dispel, so many lessons to learn.
Read Full Review >Empire Helen O'Hara
If you like Gervais' usual schtick, you might be prepared to overlook the hackneyed plot for the jokes and strong cast.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 53 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Doogs T gave it a2:
Barely watchable shmaltz. Has no internal logic. Pointless drivel fest.
ashlee s gave it a3:
This movie was boring and typical. It is basically the sixth sense of comedy or Ghost, which stories have already been perpetuated throughout movie land more times than deserved. The ending is left open with endless possibe outcomes, when the movie needed some sort of closure: which man did she choose? We will never know?
steven r gave it an8:
Rates an 8.9, just short of excellent. This is Mr. Gervais movie and he is up to the task. Crisp, funny dialogue and interaction with Ms. Leoni, Mr. Kinnear, and especially the Surgeon (Ms. Wiig). An unusual film as the leads are a bit off center and the handsome star plays a backup role. I can't pin it down but there is something about Ms. Leoni that makes her likable if not lovable (see You Kill Me & The Family Man as examples). Well written & directed, and great ending that does not tie everything up too neatly. I laughed, shed a tear, and rooted for both of them to be happy, hopefully with, but even without, each other. Highly recommended.
Essi S gave it a9:
A great script by David Koepp, who also directed this surpriser film of 2008. Everything worked in this film. Funny and moving.
Steve H. gave it a2:
Schmaltzy sentimental tack.
[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Yeah people, this is about as good as a romantic comedy about ghosts is going to get... the ideas are pretty original, even if the plot is not... Gervais elevates this above the usual tosh as he is aloud to improvise... some of the scenes are pure gold... take the girlfriend along, you'll bothfeel pretty validated afterward.
T gave it an8:
Refreshingly good movie with excellent performances.
