Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Bertram Pincus is a man whose people skills leave much to be desired. When Pincus dies unexpectedly, but is miraculously revived after seven minutes, he wakes up to discover that he now has the annoying ability to see ghosts. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen.

We don’t get much of comedian Ricky Gervais over here in the states so I am always excited to see him. This one isn’t his best work but it does a great job with the material and has some really funny moments. The film is ultimately a romantic comedy of sorts with a bitter dentist who is being bombarded by requests from the dead but just wants to get on with his private life. While it wasn’t quite the comedy home run I was hoping for, I still enjoyed it.

The HD release is quite good given that it is a newer film and has wonderful detail and dimension. Fine object detail is strong and the bright imagery lends to a very sharp and vibrant look. Colors are very natural with great saturation and contrast levels are strong. I didn’t notice any compression issues and natural film grain is preserved nicely. A strong showing in HD.

The soundtrack is about what I would expect from a comedy. It has some nice dynamics at times but mainly this is a dialogue driven track with playful scoring to liven things up. The mix has a nice open quality to it and even the surrounds gets some discrete treatment now and then. Dialogue sounds very natural and has a great balance within the mix.

Extras include a feature commentary with the director and Ricky Gervais along with a few production features that look at the making of the film and its special effects.

This was a fun and charming film but not quite as funny as some of the other material I’ve seen Gervais in. I like its heart though and Dreamworks has done a great job with the presentation.