A ghastly film

Normally, ghosts would be placed into the horror movie genre, but “Ghost Town” chooses to go the opposite direction and make a comedy about haunting ghosts.

That’s the one thing it deserves credit for. Nothing else.

In “Ghost Town,” Bertram (Ricky Gervais) lives a life of loneliness and chooses to be a complete jackass to everyone. During a routine procedure, Bertram dies for about seven minutes, and then shockingly comes back to life.

This mishap grants him the ability to see ghosts. What they want from him are favors, particularly Frank (Greg Kinnear), who wants Bertram to break up his widow’s marriage.

Was there potential? Yes. Did the film “Ghost Town” reach its potential? Not even close.

Everything went so slow and just dragged on the entire time. It felt like the plot was not leading in any direction until the last half hour or so, when it shifted from a should-be unique movie to a dumb romantic comedy.

It’s not hard to guess the outcome either. You could probably read the synopsis on a web site, guess how it will end, and probably be correct.

Gervais does a fair job with his awkward remarks and cutesy lines, but it gets old, since that’s the only thing he does. The fact that all of those lines are said in his British accent makes matters even worse.

Nobody wants to watch a British guy mingle with ghosts for almost two hours. Okay, maybe a couple of mothers and a handful of old people would find him rather charming, but that’s it.

“Ghost Town” may have a couple of moments that will enlighten people’s hearts, but this film is dead on arrival. Throughout its running time, it will make you feel like you’re being buried alive. If I were a ghost, I’d come back and haunt the creatives behind this movie.