Ricky Gervais has made a career out of being a grumpbag (and making up nonsense in the excellent Flanimals books) but he was a star long before you could catch him in the hilarious and heart-wrenching After Life (now streaming on Netflix). After conquering TV with The Office and Extras, he starred in a range of movies.
These were a mixed bag (The Invention of Lying is a great concept not quite done right) but we were treated to two great things. The first, is Gervais' superb cameo in Night at the Museum and the second, is Ghost Town. This criminally underrated movie is leaving Netflix on the 1st of December, and you need to show it some love. Don't just take my word for it, with an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes, I'm not the only fan.
Dentists aren't exactly the most popular people in the world, and when as acerbic and anti-social as Gervais' Bertram Pincus, it's easy to find yourself lonely. After a near-death experience, however, he's suddenly less lonely. Not because he finds friends to rally around him, but because he can now see ghosts, and they are all desperate for his help to pass on.
One particularly persistent ghost is Frank (Greg Kinnear) who desperately wants to break up his girlfriend's (Téa Leoni) new relationship with a "bad man" (he's a human rights lawyer, yuck). To get some peace and quiet Bertram agrees to try and come between them and woo her himself. The only problem is that she hates his guts.
As romcoms go it's a pretty unique premise and the movie is genuinely both very funny (in Gervais' typical dry manner) and at times particularly poignant.
It's a shame for Netflix to lose quality programming but at least the streamer has been good to us recently. It has already added a historic Best Picture winner and David Fincher's latest movie this month as well as an animated show with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
