Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is an anti-social, cynical and bitter dentist. His “love” for human beings is as impressive as Gregory House’s, really. Of course since Pincus is being portrayed by Gervais, everything he does or says is just really funny.
Something really weird happens after Pinus gets a minor procedure done at the hospital. He realizes (to his utter disgust) that dead people can see and talk to him. In fact, he is the only alive person who seems to have this “power” so all the dead New Yorkers become his stalkers. They all have unfinished businesses and they need to get those done before they can leave this world for good.
The most persistent and annoying one of them all is the smooth and cocky Frank (Greg Kinnear). Now, Frank is the worst because he doesn’t even know what his final purpose is; but he is quite convinced that it has something to the with his widowed wife Gwen (Téa Leoni). He did cheat on Gwen a lot when he was alive but for some reason he considers himself his guardian angel. His mission is to break her relationship with her current boyfriend and Pincus is just forced to cooperate. He realizes Gwen is hot so he decides to try flirting. At first he sucks at it, but then as he slowly bonds with her, he begins regretting it already…
A typical romantic comedy has been combined with some typical Ricky Gervais humor and along with Kinnear’s adorable “bastard” character, the movie is just fun. I has many clichés but the good jokes and funny parts make up for it.
The role is just made for Gervais. He is cheeky and funny. I especially love all his lines in the hospital. Téa and Greg are more than adaquate and are perfectly cute. The hilairous doctor in the hospital is SNL’s Kristen Wiig.
Totally agree with imdb’s 7.0/10 on this one. As romcoms get, this is one of the really good ones.
Also on Ricky Gervais:
Golden Globes Highlights – Ricky Gervais
The Invention of Lying
on Kristen Wiig
Whip It
Gerard Butler and Saturday Night Live
on Saturday Night Live