Take Judd Hirsch (TAXI and NUMBERS) as Count Dracula, 1970’s TV spokeswoman and personality Mariette Hartley as the Witch, LAUGH IN”s Henry Gibson as Igor, and Broadway and TV character actor John Shuck as Frankenstein, and put them together for one live-action TV special, and you get THE HALLOWEEN THAT ALMOST WASN’T.  One of the funniest Halloween specials that seems to have unfairly fallen by the wayside.

This is not meant to be an attack on the classic GREAT PUMPKIN, so put the knives and slings, and pitchforks down.  I enjoy GREAT PUMPKIN very much, but I want to put the spotlight on HALLOWEEN THAT ALMOST WASN’T.

The story is simplicity in itself.  It’s almost Halloween, and all is not well in Transylvania.  There’s an ugly rumor going around that Dracula is going to end the holiday.  Dracula is furious about this (“Halloween is my national holiday!”).  He’s not the only one upset.  Two young kids who love this holiday as much as Dracula, have heard the news, and wonder what will happen to the fun they’re planning on having.  These kids don’t know it yet, but they’ll wind up being instrumental in bringing about the happy ending.

Back at Dracula’s castle, Drac has summoned his legion of monsters to discuss the crisis.  It is at this meeting that Dracula learns that the Witch is there to strike a blow on behalf of equal rights.  Either Dracula meets her demands, or she won’t fly over the moon, and that’s it for Halloween.  When Dracual refuses, the Witch leaves for her castle, and locks herself in.  It’s up to Dracula and the other monsters to get the Witch to do her job, by luring or forcing her out of the castle.

But like I said, this is all played for laughs.  Writer Coleman Jacoby and Director Bruce Bilson pack this 30 minute special with plenty of bits of physical comedy, pop culture (for 1979) references, and hilariously cringeworthy throwaway jokes.    I have a hard time picking out favorite lines and moments, because there are so many.  One moment, like Dracula and Frankenstein disussing how a popular movie made Frank take up tapdancing, will put a smile on myface.  Then another moment, like the Witch’s demands which include having the Witch’s picture replace Dracula’s on the souvenir T-shirts, makes me laugh.  Then ANOTHER moment, like Dracula abusing Igor or doing his “teeny tiny bat” incantation puts me away-you have to see this last one for yourself, what happens after he’s a teeny tiny bat is even funnier.

I wish I coiuld tell you where to get this on DVD, or which TV stations or cable networks will run it, but I can’t.  What I CAN do is tell you to get yourself over to YouTube, where someone had the good sense to upload it, and in very good quality, too I might add.  I’m not tricking you when I say that this HALLOWEEN is a real treat.

I must have been 7.3141529 years old, and was under the impression that the English had no sense of humor to speak of.  How could I not when the only British TV my parents ever seemed to watch were those period pieces of MASTERPIECE THEATRE, and network miniseries based on classic works of literature?  I was certain at that age that if I ever went overseas, I’d have a rotten time, because the English didn’t seem to have a sense of humor about anything.

That is until I saw this advertisement on WGBH.  It was a short advertisement for a TV show.  The clip featured this 6 foot 4 gentleman dressed in a 3 piece suit, having a conversation with another well-dressed gentleman.  The 6′4″ man stands up, and begins to walk around the office, which is no larger than my bathroom, in the most bizarre, and extraordinary manner I had ever seen.  The audience wwas exploding with laughter, and this strangely walking man, was English!

In case you haven’t guessed, this was the first time I ever saw the climax of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks skit.  This was my introduction to the wonderfully silly and anarchic world of Monty Python.  Even though I was too young to watch it back then (my parents would have had a fit if they caught me watching Monty Python at that age), I knew this was something I’d want to investigate and check out later.

Later came when I was about 15.  Two events joined forces to bring me into the Python legion of fans.  First, I made a friend who had moved into my hometown form Boston, and who happened to know almost every Python routine word-perfect.  He enjoyed trying to engage me in the routines, especially since he knew that, at the time, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about  The other thing that happened was that my folks had finally decided that I could start staying up later on Friday nights.  That meant that if I was lucky, I’d catch Monty Python on WGBH.  The first complete episode I ever got to see was the “Book at Bedtime/Kamikaze Highlanders” episode from the third series.

I could not have asked for a better episode to start with, because it gave me a clear idea of what they wanted the show to be.  I was seeing a fantastically series of surreal skits connected by Michael Palin and the gang trying to make sense of RED GAUNTLET by Sir Walter Scott.  I couldn’t wait to tell my friend about it.  Of course, he knew that episode backwards and forwards, but we still enjoyed a good laugh remembering it.  The second one I saw from the same series was Michael Palin starring as Reg Pither in the “Cycling Tour (“I’m just a jack-in-the-box/and whenever love pops, I’m gonna bounce up and down on my spring….”).  Absolutely hilarious.

I have since seen all 45 episodes.  After I saw most of them, I started seeking out the movies.  I think I actually saw them in the order they were made.  I recorded AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, and HOLY GRAIL.  I was able to rent LIFE OF BRIAN (which rreally is more about radicalism and terrorism than anything else, but that’s another column-please don’t start a holy war here, the People’s Front of Judea have been especdially hard hit by the recession).  The movie I had to shell out the most for was MEANING OF LIFE, because , at the time, it wasn’t available on video.  I didn’t get sick from the famous restaurant scene, but I don’t know what posessed me to eat lunch while watching it.

The highlight, for me thi=ough, was getting to see SPAMALOT in NYC the night before it won best musical.  I got to meet Chris Seiber, who’s currently playing Lord Farquaad in SHREK, and had my picture taken with Hank Azaria.  .  Unfortunately, Tim Curry didn’t come out to meet the audience, that would have been great.

So, now Monty Python turns 40.  It’s hard to believe that I am one year younger than this group, but have pretty much known who they were my whole life.  I’m really grateful for how this group has shaped and cultivated my sense of humor.  We Python fans a re a special group, a community, almost a family.  A very silly family that knows that Norwegian Blues have beautiful plumage, that cheese shops without cheese aren’t much of a cheese shop, a Gumby isn’t a green clay figurine, and that one wafer thin mint can cause a huge biohazard in a stuffy French restaurant.

In a recent post, I targeted two advertising camapigns that were a major insult to my intelligence.  In case you couldn’t figure them out, they were Old Navy , and their insipidly stupid talking mannequins (and yes, I hope an Old Navy exec is reading this-my 5 year old god daughter is smarter than your commercials!), and Burger King with their morons dressed as menu items.  Thankfully, I haven’t seen that in a while.

Buth ON and BK are far from the only companies trying to suck IQ points out of our brains.  My next targets are Light and Fit Yogurt, and Chef Boyardee.  I’ll start with the yogurt, and their dainty little vampire shoplifter.  You must have seen this eyesore of an ad.  The woman in the commercial has the yogurt.  She rips off the cover, places the cup to her mouth.  We are then FORCED to listen to this deees-gusting slurping noise, while we watch her guzzle the stuff, and watch the container collapse.  The cup falls to the ground, and she looks coyly around, like she just did the cutest widdle thing—tee-effing-hee.  Folks, does the word SHOPLIFTER mean anything to you, ’cause that is exactly what she is doing, right in the store.  I keep PRAYING that a store security guard comes along and hauls her shoplifiting ass to JAIL.  Seriously, I don’t care how hot and seductive she thinks she’s trying to be.  She JUST STOLE MERCHANDISE!!!!

Then there’s the Chef Boyardee “secretly nutritious” campaign inwhich parents don’t want their school aged children to realize that what they’re eating is nutritious.  Chef Boyardee blatantly rfails to realize to things in their effort to insult our intelligence.  1.  As soon as these “kids” see themselves on TV, or see a similar ad for the SAME PRODUCT, they’re gonna KNOW it’s nutritious.  Secondly, these “kids” are of an age where they could probably read what’s on the can for themselves.  It ain’t a secret anymore, Chef.  No matter how much Mom bangs the pots and pans, or has an inner conversation with herself in which she GIVES AWAY what the can says.  The secret is out.  Is it any wonder I use my DVD player almost every night?

The other night, I happened across a channel on YouTube run by bobtwcatlanta.  It is a treasure trove of tv theme songs/opening sequences from the 1970’s, ’80’s and ’90’s.  And I’m not talking about the ones you can see or have seen time and again, I ran into some rarities I NEVER expected to see again.  If you like nostalgia like I do, I urge you to check this person’s channel out, and be ready to spend hours remembering.

As I enjoyed this trip, a thought struck me.  These opening sequences and themes served a real purpose.  They actually helped establish time, place, and character.  Every once in a while, one of these themes would break out and become a hit song in it’s own right.  You also got to put names and faces together, so you’d nknow who was who.

But, now, you don’t get this luxury, or that pleasure.  Oh no.  Madison
Avenue, and it’s unholy alliance with the major networks have convinced each other, and you the American Public, that you don’t have the patience or the attention span to sit through such things.  Now, you’re expected to know who’s who, without having SEEN the show before, and you’re lucky to get a guitar riff or string hit.  Get real, Madison Avenue, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox.  If we can sit through the 60 minutes or 30 minutes worth of crap you’re passing off as entertainment these days without flipping stations, we can sit through a 30 or 60 second opening sequence WITH theme music AND matching names to faces.

Neil Patrick Harris, the star of one of CBS’s top-rated sitcoms understands this.  He made a huge point about it at this year’s Emmy Awards when he chastised the networks for abandoning this creative art form.  If one of TV’s most visible and bankable stars can recognize that theme music to TV shows has merit, then why can’t the bigwigs in the boardroom?

Answer:  They are AFRAID!  That’s right, they’re afraid that you’re not going to stick around to watch their show if they actually take the time to introduce it the way they used to.  They can hear you reaching for your remote to change the channel, or worse turn off the TV all together, and do something more worthwile, like reading, or calling a friend, or spending time with your family.  These are all unacceptable to the network bigwigs, and Madison Avenue, no matter what their PSA’s tell you.  What the networks REALLY should be concerned about is the fact that people are doing these awful things to their networks because their shows are CRAP.

I say bring back the theme song and the opening sequnece.  Give us credit for having patience and an attention span, you’ll also be putting some talented songwriters to work.  And in this economy, that’s far from a bad thing.

Dear America,

We, the advertising houses of New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles think you’re stupid.  We advertisers are not willing to give you enough credit to realize mannequins don’t talk.  We expect you to believe people actually dress as hamburgers and talk about being broiled.

Furthermore, we  expect you to think that all men are incompetent jocks who can never say or do the right thing, and therefore, must be corrected by their wives, who have never done anything wrong in their lives.  The wives , however, along with the husbands MUST be outsmarted by their bratty, know-it -all, overly fashion centered kids..

As long as you dump your hard-earned money on our products, we’ll keep treating you like idiots with our advertising campaign.  We hope you never wise up and realize that we are treating you like you’re stupid.  Because if you do realize this, we’ll actually have to start trying to be clever and intelligent, and we’re just too damn lazy to do that.

Yours insincerely,

The advertising agencies of America

I haven’t had the time or the energy to post about the movies I’ve seen, so my MovieZone is now closed. Thank you to my friends and readers. I’ve enjoyed interacting with you.

However, I am going to keep posting to Wordspace about topics I feel strongly about. My new blog will be simply Andy’s Zone. Look for my first post coming soon.

In my article about movie musicals making a comeback, I mentioned a musical called ONE RED FLOWER. For those of you who may not recall, this musical is taken from the book LETTERS FROM ‘NAM, in which you can read actual letters written to and from the soldiers who fought in that terrible war. The musical focuses on a mother and six soldiers whose stories are told in song through these letters and poems. I find myself thinking a lot about this musical lately. Not necessarily because of the tensions in the Middle east, or anything political like that. No. I’ve just been thinking about how much this musical moved me even more than the commercial successes of LES MISERABLES, MISS SAIGON or RAGTIME (and those are three heavy hitters in the deeply moving department).

Let me explain. I learned about ONE RED FLOWER from a friend of mine who is a member of ALL THAT CHAT over at talkinbroadway.com. She saw it in Washington D.C> in either 1999 or 2000, and couldn’t say enough about it. Next thing I know, the North Shore Music Theatre announced ONE RED FLOWER as part of the 2001/2002 season, beginning in September of 2001. Even better news: a bus tour company i was familiar with announced a day trip to see FLOWER. Talk about opportunity knocking. It was pounding on the door.
Well, I don’t need to remind you about what happened at the beginning of September of 2001. I still have raw memories of that day. Those memories were still fresh about two weeks later, when i boarded the bus to Beverly, MA. After our lunch stop at a very good steakhouse, we were at North Shore.

Nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for what I would see or how I would feel. Like every great musical, the opening number, “I Was There”, engaged me with it’s simple, yet driving rock melody, and straightforward lyrics. I was with them, and I began to follow the structure of the piece quite well, learning a lot about the soldiers’ experiences along the way. All the time, the emotional intensity of FLOWER was building and building. Then came the boiling point in a protest song called “I Don’t Understand This War”. Just as that song reachedits climax, the soundtrack of the lunar landing broke in over the sound system, and were back with three of the soldiers in the jungle, staring up into a starry sky, listening. The local time was “4:16 A.M.” The soldiers, arms on each others’ shoulders, sang about how in that moment, they knew who they were, what they were doing, and where they belonged. This is the Act 1 closer, and by the time it was done, I was unable to speak. I honestly expected that if I dared to open my mouth, I would be crying so uncontrollably that they’d have to ask me to leave the theatre.
Act 2 wasn’t about to let me off the hook either. Sure it opened with a lighter song called “Saigon Tea”, but that was about as light-hearted as it would get. The unforgettable title song shows up in Act 2, as does a heart-breaker caled “There Will Still Be Christmas”, and the gut wrenching finale “If You Are Able”. The theatre was on its feet, roaring its approval at the end. I rode home, thinking that I had to find a way to tell Paris Barclay how much his show moved me. I found his e-mail address, and did just that. He wrote back with a quick note, thanking me for my support.
It’s been eight years since I first had the experience, and I find myself wishing I could experience it in some way again. I find it sadly interesting that despite the praise from audiences and press reviews, there’s STILL NO cast album! I’ve made inquiries, and done searches, but no luck. So I’m putting the word out to the recording companies, get in touch with Paris Barclay, and get him and his cast into the studio, PLEASE! I can’t afford to fly out to wherever it’s playing, I can’t even afford to go to see a play in Providence, right now, but that’s beside the point. A cast album would be great for me and other fans who can’t get out to see it. I’d even settle for a few clips on YouTube, but that’s not my call to make.
In closing, I am so grateful that I had the chance to see ONE RED FLOWER, and I hope many more of you get the chance to see it, too. Just be sure to have enough Kleenex.

I know it’s been too long since you heard from me.  The economy has really socked it to me over the past few months, and going to the movies has been low on my list of priorities.  But that isn’t what this post is about.  So, here are some thoughts on my favorite Christmas movies of all time:

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET (1994version)  I know, I know, it’s NOT the Maureen O’Hara version, but I like it.  Sir Richard Attenborough is a great Saint Nicholas in this adaptation, and Mara Wilson kept great pace with her experienced co-stars.  I usually start my Holiday movie watching with this one after spending Thanksgiving Day with my family.

THE NATIVITY STORY.  I would be GROSSLY remiss if I didn’t include this movie.  After all, THIS is the reason we have Christmas in the first place.  Don’t look for any famous faces, though.  The actors are all very talented newcomers who paint a very realistic portrait of what happened that first Christmas.  I particularlyenjoyed the chemistry between the three actors who played the Magi.  They inject the needed comic relief into this dramatic story, and at the climax, a real emotional and spiritual payoff for the most doubtful of the three.

HOME ALONE and HOME ALONE 2:  It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to the McAllisters suburban Chicago home.  Even after almost 20 years (can you believe this movie and the sequel are almost THAT old?), these movies deliver some of the best-and most painful-physical comedy ever filmed as young Kevin thwarts the clumsy Wet Bandits both at home and in the Big Apple.

THE SANTA CLAUSE and THE SANTA CLAUSE 2:  If Sir Richard Attenborough’s Kris Kringle is the kindest Santa, then, Tim Allen’s anta is definitely the most fun.  I admit I wasn’t too keen on the idea of seeing this when it came out on video (I had missed it in the theaters), but my Mom bought a copy the following year, and I was hooked on it within the first 20 minutes.  Portraying the elves as eternal chidren is inspired, as was the idea of having the effects of becoming Santa wear off as Allen’s character returns to the real world to find his bride.

MRS. SANTA CLAUS:  This is a great original musical that was filmed for CBS in 1996.  The story is very simple .  Mrs. C. wants desperately to help her husband Nicky with his workload.  She’s even come up with a flight plan for the reindeer that is, in her opinion, even better than her husband’s.  But, as you may have guessed, Nicky is not interested in the slightest.  So, Mrs. C. takes the sleigh, and the reindeer and tries it out for herself, only to wind up lost in turn of the Century Alphabet City in New York.  There, she comes to the aid of the residents there, including children being forced to work as slaves for an unscrupulous toymaker.  Jerry Herman provides a great score for this musical, and even pays homage to one of his own Christmas songs.

TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA’S GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS EVE:  You may be wondering what a 60 minute music video is doing on my list.  Well, it may be only 60 minutes, but the storyline behind GHOSTS has all the disciplines of a cinematic story as a young runaway trying to get home takes refuge in an abandoned theater.  There she, and the rest of us are treated to the incredible music of the ORCHESTRA.  And, I’ll be the first to say that I can barely get through this without choking up at the end.  See for yourself, if you haven’t already.

THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL.  There are so many variations of Dickens’ classic story, that it can be difficult sometimes to pick a favorite.  Some like the modern spin of SCROOGED (I do, too).  Some like the Alistair Sim version, others the Albert Finney musical version, and still others would gladly watch Mr. Magoo play the part of Ebenezer Scrooge.  For me, though, the hands-down winner is the Muppet version.  I love the fact that Michael Caine’s Scrooge is more sad and lonely than mean and petty.  This movie still had much of the Henson charm despite the loss of Jim Henson two years earlier.  This version also has my all-time favorite Ghost of Christmas Present.  He’s just so much fun, and would be a welcome guest in my house any day.

A CHRISTMAS STORY.  Well, you didn’t think I’d leave THIS one out, did you?  25 years later, and it still delivers the laughs it did when it first hit the theaters.  All I have to do is picture the younger brother bundled up in the snowsuit (“I CAN’T PUT MY ARMS DOWN!!!”), or the father holding the remains of his prized leg lamp, accusing his wife of deliberately running out of glue (“You used all the glue ON PURPOSE!”), and I start laughing.  This movie has a fierce and loyal fan base, of which I am a member.

THE POLAR EXPRESS:  Take the imagination of author Chris van Allsburg.  Add Tom Hanks leading a talented group of actors.  Mix in some of the most amazing motion capture technology ever seen.  Finally, throw in a beautiful music score by Alan Silvestri with performances by Steven Tyler and Josh Groban, and you have what is a modern Christmas classic.  I just watched this again last night, and the music, the story, and the attention to detail blew me away once again.  This story of a young boy’s journey from doubt to belief in the magic of Christmas is fun, exciting, a little frightening, and very moving.  This is a must see!

Well, this is my list anyway.  To paraphrase a credit card commercial:  What’s on YOUR list?

One of my friends will tell you that it can be hell working in TV.  Some people believe that the quality of programming has gone in that direction with the advent of “reality” programming.  In STAY TUNED, when you go to that awful place, you wind up being the newest star on “Hellvision”:  the Underworld’s TV Network which caters to one viewer in particular, and I’m not talking about the president of the Nielsen Company, either.

How do you wind up there?  Simple:  all you need to do is be so dissatisfied with your life that you use the TV as an escape.  Once that happens, Satan’s representative, and the demon in charge of programming, Spike (Jeffrey Jones) shows up at your house to offer you the free-trial use of a monster satellite dish that can receive 600 and 66 channels of programming on a big screen setup with Dolby surround.  And it’s all controlled by a simple remote.  All you have to do is sign the contract (cue evil organ music).  One other thing, when the reception goes on the fritz (and it WILL very quickly), you have to go out to the dish and adjust it manually.  And THAT’s when they’ve got you.  You see, the dish seems to KNOW when someone’s gotten to close.  It adjusts itself, extends the probe, and ZAP, you’re on Hellvision.

That’s where the Knables come in.  Roy (the late great John Ritter) is an unsuccessful plumbing salesman, who dreams of great adventure, and lives out his unfulfilled fantasies by watching TV.  His wife, Helen (Pam Dawber), on the other hand is a very successful executive for a vitamin company.  Helen loves Roy, but she’s afraid she’s losing him to the tube, and when Spike shows up with his system, Helen gets ready to walk out on him.

Roy, on the other hand, is totally absorbed in his new TV.  He doesn’t even seem the least bit suspicious that every show he turns to, and every commercial he’s seeing has a real mean streak to it.  The titles and the products seem familiar, but there’s just something odd about them.  Sure enough, the reception goes, just as Helen is walking out.  She finds Roy working on the dish, when ZAP!  They’re on Hellvision.

Their first stop is an appearance on YOU CAN’T WIN.  Hellvision’s top rated daytime game show in which couples learn the awful truth about each other, by answering multiple choice questions.  Winning the game means they don’t get killed and are sent to their next program.  You see, the idea behind Hellvision programming is to kill the souls that enter the system within 24 hours.  If the souls survive, they get sent back to reality, a little bit wiser for the wear.  Soon, Roy and Helen find themselves in a wrestling match with gorgons, wind up on Hell’s version of NORTHERN EXPOSURE, and in my favorite segment, as mice in a Chuck Jones cartoon battling the evil Robocat.  This segment features some of Jones’ funniest work in animation.

Meanwhile, Spike is getting worried.  Nobody has survived the system as long as the Knables.  It’s also not helping Spike that his assistant played by Eugene Levy has become an unexpected ally to the Knables.  Well, Spike DID send his assistant into the field as a punishment for an ill-timed joke.  Now the assistant wants revenge.  It’s also not helping Spike that back in the real world, the Knable kids, Darryl and Diane have figured out what’s happened, and are working to rescue their parents.  it’s actually Darryl who narrates the story, and does so very well.

The Knables do hit redemtion point, but there’s a hitch.  Only Roy signed the contract, therefore, only Roy gets to go back.  Spike, meanwhile, has tied Helen to a cart full of dynamite on the middle of a railroad track (the legendary 3:10 to Yuma is supposed to pass by-I can’t tell you how often I missed that joke until watching this movie last night).  Roy is taunted into returning to the system to find and rescue Helen.  This time, no matter where Roy goes, Spike goes too.  This turns into a chase around the dial with a visual joke involving Roy on the set of a VERY familiar looking sitcom, with the theme music playing in the background.

Well, as is often the case with these twists on the Faust story, Roy does learn his lesson, reconnects with Helen and his kids, and winds up going into a new line of work, in which he’s very successful.

What I like about this movie are the parodies.  They hit the mark more than they miss.  I also like the fact that legendary voiceover announcers Ernie Anderson (from ABC) and Don Pardo offer their services.  Then there’s Bruce Broughton’s background score.  The music styles match the programming and commercials perfectly, especially in the Chuck Jones segment.

All I can say is that if I’m ever offered a system that features 600 and 66 channels, I’m gonna think twice.  As it is, i don’t even watch all of the 199 channels I get NOW.

I’m still here, everyone, I just haven’t been able to get out to the movies much lately.  Anyway, I’m glad people out there are still checking my blog out.

GHOST TOWN is the kind of intelligent human and heartfelt comedy that Hollywood knows how to make, but all too often passes over in favor of dreck like DUDE WHERE”S MY CAR?  Ricky Gervais is Dr. Bernard Pincus, a dentist that nightmares are made of.  He’s selfish, egotistical, boorish, tactless, and uninterested in his patients.  He won’t even attend a small gathering in honor of his partner becoming a father.

Dr. Pincus, however is not just a doctor, he’s also a patient.  As the movie begins, Dr. Pincus has to go through the awful preparations for a colonoscopy.  I can tell you, from having watched my parents prepare for these, that it’s not pretty.  It’s also the kind of funny situation that makes GHOST TOWN a pleasure to watch.  I think every adult over the age of 50 was laughing with recognition at how Dr. Pincus tried to down the prep meds, and wait for them to kick in.

Happily, the procedure is successful.  At least that’s what Dr. pincus believes, anyway.  He leaves the hospital, and talks to a nurse that he believes works there.  Only thing is, this nurse doesn’t work at that hospital or any other hospital, for that matter.  She’s a ghost.  And she’s not the only one walking the streets of NYC.  Soon, Pincus is being followed by construction workers, elderly couples, police officers killed in the line of duty, a nude man, and a gentleman in a tuxedo named Frank (Greg Kinnear), who wants Pincus to help him with his widow, Gwen (Tea Leone).

It seems that Frank doesn’t want his wife to get remarried to her boyfriend Richard (Billy Campbell).  Frank is convinced that Richard is up to no good.  Pincus, however doesn’t want ANYTHING to do with Frank, or any of the other ghosts that now follow, pester, and generally make Pincus look insane.  But Frank and the other ghosts aren’t about to give up.  Soon, Pincus finds himself wooing Gwen, and trying to drive a wedge between Gwen and Richard.  What Pincus soon discovers, however, is that he loves Gwen.  Frank, however, tries to discourage the relationship, because he sees the worst parts of himself in Pincus.  Things get even worse when Pincus tries to tell Gwen that everything he’s learned about her and Frank is coming directly from Frank.  Pincus soon learns that he needs to start being less self-absorbed, and more in tune with the needs of others.  It’s a hard lesson for anyone like Pincus to learn, but luckily for the audience, it’s a lesson taught with a lot of laughs and heart, and Gervais pulls off a very funny and believable performance, and it’s a great touch that Pincus has a sensitive gag reflex which becomes a funny running joke (notice I didn’t say running “gag”?).

I was reminded of HEART AND SOULS while watching this.  In my mind GHOST TOWN is the perfect companion piece.  It’s like HEART AND SOULS multiplied by two.  I just hope that Hollywood realizes that there is STILL an audience out there for this kind of intelligent  fun-filled comedy.  I, for one, hope the DVD will come with a blooper reel, because I swear there were scenes that had to be hard to get through without breaking up.