Movie trailers for Ghost Town hype a funny, character-driven story starring Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear. Happily, there’s no disappointment in the film, as Ghost Town is not only very funny but quite likeable as well.

Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a dentist who likes his career because he doesn’t have to listen to anyone talk. When he undergoes a routine colonoscopy and is given anesthesia, Bertram doesn’t wake up -- for a while. And when he does, he thinks things are status quo.

Bertram soon discovers that isn’t true; in fact, he “sees dead people.” But the situations are funny. Strange people bombard him with requests to do odd things. For example, one woman wants him to tell her daughter where she left a good-bye note. Bertram doesn’t understand what’s going on until Frank Herlihy (Kinnear) explains that he and the others are all ghosts who can’t pass on because they all have one last task involving a loved one to finish. Because Bertram can see and hear them while others cannot, it’s his help they need.

Although Gervais is barley known to non-TV fans, his dry-humor is well recognized in his native England and as the Golden Globe-winning creator and star of the original The Office and HBO’s Extras. He’s a natural against the loveable and laughable Kinnear, whose character was run down by a bus during his prime. Living in a filet-mignon world and married to one wonderful woman, Frank had just purchased another place for his mistress. He feels guilty over the grief he’s caused his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni), and wants Bertram to help him apologize and get rid of her new boyfriend Richard (Billy Campbell).

One amusing scenario after another unfolds, all featuring Gervais, who can make an ordinary situation seem hilarious. Bertram’s gag reflex, triggered by a dog’s bad breath, is funny every time it happens. Of course Gervais’ self-mocking wit is partly due to the sardonic dialogue from the screenplay by John Kamps (Zathura: A Space Adventure) and director/writer David Koepp (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

“Ricky mines the humor of the uncomfortable and the awkward as well as anyone,” Koepp said. “As soon as his name came up for the part, it was impossible not to think of him in it. He’s got this very finely developed comic persona that he’s been working on for 20 years and he brought all that to the role of Pincus.”

Gervais was drawn to the comedic aspects of the film, but also liked other elements. “Aside from the fact that there are ghosts everywhere, it’s all played very, very naturally and the story’s very much about emotional themes that everyone identifies with: loneliness, loss, jealousy, love,” he said.

Kinnear makes easy work of this role, mimicking the goofy character he in played in the Oscar-winning  Little Miss Sunshine. Tea Leoni presents a likeable character here, one far more interesting than her role in last year’s You Kill Me.

From the 1937 Topper to more recent sci-fi offerings, the undead have been the subject of many movies, so the material in Ghost Town isn’t anything new. It’s perfect casting that makes this thoroughly entertaining film work so well. 

(Released by DreamWorks rated “PG-13” for some strong language, sexual humor and drug references.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com.