Who’s In It: Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear, Tea Leoni, Kristen Wiig, Alan Ruck, Aasif Mandvi
The Basics: Ricky Gervais is a misanthropic dentist who discovers that after briefly dying during surgery, he can suddenly see dead people, Sixth Sense-style. He’s annoyed by this new wrinkle in his highly-controlled, solitary life and is especially irritated by freshly-departed soul Greg Kinnear. An adulterer while he lived, Kinnear needs Gervais to assist his widow Tea Leoni in letting go of her pain. And that’s how you know that it’s not always funny—once you’re in the bereavement therapy business the laughs die quicker than Greg Kinnear being taken out by a speeding bus.
What’s the Deal: Ricky Gervais is funnier than 99% the comic actors that could have been cast in this movie, which means that even though this is kind of a standard-issue romantic comedy, he keeps it from turning totally bland. Now, if you’re a fan of the original U.K. version of The Office or his other show Extras, you’re probably going to be disappointed. You’ve seen him in better and you know the difference. The rest of you won’t know what you’re missing and you’ll just think this somewhat pudgy British guy is pretty funny. Then you’ll wonder why no one else in the movie gets to be.
Whose Career It Will Help Most: Tea Leoni, who can now continue being sought after for the role of the really earnest, normal wife. Perhaps you remember her being that person in every other movie she’s ever been in. Now you can remember her as that from this movie too.
When to See It: On cable, later. It’s perfectly pleasant, often funny (until it slows down for the inevitable soul searching everyone’s forced to do) and extremely suitable for that folder in your TiVo you’ve marked as “movies that won’t make you feel worse when you’re lying sick on the couch.”
Stuff that’s Missing:
1. The Specials song “Ghost Town.” I realize that would have been kind of on-the-nose, but I like that song a lot.
2. Swayze cameo.
3. Swayze cameo where he ghost rides the whip.