Ghost Town

Ghost Town (2008) is David Koepp's romantic comedy, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Bertram Pincus is a Manhattan dentist who genuinely can't stand other people. After he briefly dies on the operating table, he wakes up with an unwanted side effect: he can now see the dead, and every last one of them wants a favor.

Ricky Gervais plays Pincus as the perfect misanthrope, a man delighted that the living avoid him and horrified that the dead won't. The pushiest of his new visitors is Frank, a smooth-talking ghost played by Greg Kinnear, who wants Pincus to break up his widow Gwen's upcoming wedding. The deal sounds easy: scare off the fiancé, and Frank will get the other spirits to leave Pincus alone. The catch is that the prickly dentist starts falling for Gwen himself, a tartly funny Téa Leoni.

Koepp, better known as a screenwriter, turns out a surprisingly warm comedy where Gervais' acid British wit gets balanced by real feeling. Not saccharine, not cynical. A solid pick for a night when you want to laugh and then get a little choked up. Stream Ghost Town online on iFILM.