La ville fantôme

While this movie is comedy, it's not really a major "laugh-fest" or anything - but it is very well done and interesting to watch. If you're a fan of Ricky Gervais, he's only an actor here, not the writer or producer - so don't expect lots of Gervais-inspired humor. However, do expect a clever and charming romantic comedy.

Basically, the movie is about a dentist (Gervais) who temporarily dies during a routine medical procedure. This experience gives him the ability to see all the dead people who are milling about. One of them is resourceful enough to get Gervais' character to interfere with his former wife's engagement ... and the story progresses from there.

Gervais puts in a great performance as the socially repugnant dentist. Unpleasant as he is, he's fun to watch and you want to see what his every next move will be. Greg Kinnear (who plays the ghost pressuring Gervais) does a good job too; he's pretty believable in his role. The other characters are more or less one-dimensional and not quite as interesting. However, together with Gervais and Kinnear, everyone more or less of shines.

While the story is a bit predictable, the interesting characters, charming nature of the tale and all-around quality of movie-making make this film worth a watch.