Ghost Town

My wife and I stumbled upon Ghost Town last night, just because it happened to be on. We hadn't heard of it before but it has Ricky Gervais in it and that was enough.

The first thing that struck me was that there is a woman who finds out her husband is cheating on her the same day as he dies. I had come across a similar couple of stories in real life where this kind of thing happened too. There was football player Steve McNair whose wife only found out about his infidelity because of and soon after his murder. And then there was a New York Times piece on a woman who discovered multiple affairs by her husband after he died. She confronted the other women and eventually wrote a book about it, Perfection. So, it was an interesting coincidence seeing a movie with a similar plot device just now.

The movie was pretty funny. Ricky Gervais does what he does as usual and does it well. The side roles are really what put the movie over the top. Greg Kinnear does well as a slightly oily, but always charming schemer--the unfaithful husband. The widow is played by Téa Leoni. The thing about her is that every movie I see her in, I end up being surprised by how good she is. Maybe the fact that she is so pretty lowers the acting expectation, but the acting is first-rate. There were lots of other great bit parts: The doctor, the hospital lawyer, the dentist's receptionist and especially Ferris Bueller's best friend.

I instantly recognized Alan Ruck as someone I have seen before, but where? My wife was shaken: It can't be Cameron because that guy is middle-aged looking and if he is old...No! it is too horrible to contemplate.