Ricky Gervais sees dead people in “Ghost Town”

Ricky Gervais sees dead people. And he has found them to be a demanding bunch in his new movie “Ghost Town” as they clamor for help and attention from the only man who knows they’re there.

That man is antisocial dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais), who hates chit-chat, doesn’t like the living much, and now, after a colonoscopy gone wrong, suddenly starts seeing ghosts.

The romantic comedy, which also stars Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni, provides a first leading role on the big screen for Gervais, who made his name as David Brent in the British comedy TV series “The Office” and won critical acclaim for his HBO TV series “Extras.”

A master in deriving comedy from awkward social situations, Gervais makes the transition to the big screen with a series of droll one-liners. Pincus is hardly a grown-up version of the young Cole Sear from 1999’s “The Sixth Sense,” played by Haley Joel Osment, whose line “I see dead people” has become a part of pop culture and movie history.

- from Reuters