Clearly, Ricky Gervais is not a comic actor of any stature as he keeps stepping out of character in this movie – as if he does not really take the filmmaking process very seriously. Nevertheless, he is still pretty funny.
This one is about the unfinished emotional business between the living and the dead and those who leave us because we are obnoxious. Here, the living lack the courage to free themselves of their life denying attachment to their dead; the dead find it just as hard to free themselves of the living (partly because the living can't actually see them). Neither feels able to move on psychologically hence their mutual emotional constipation.
Unfortunately, the film suffers from the same constipation as the characters in its being rather emotionally superficial. Here, there is a profound lack of understanding about what makes people tick generally and about why they become so attached to each other - often in spite their best efforts not to do so. The movie lacks any real pathos so consequently lacks any really deeply ingrained humor.
This film is more of a student screenwriting project that rips off Ghost and Sixth Sense without adding anything to this particular sub genre. Not as funny to watch as to make and not even as good as Blithe Spirit.
Copyright © 2009 Frank TALKER. Permission granted to reproduce and distribute it in any format; provided that mention of the author’s Weblog (http://franktalker5.blogspot.com/) is included: E-mail notification requested. All other rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment