Ghost Town

I went to see Ghost Town last night, a quirky romantic comedy about a guy who has a near-death experience, and comes back to life with the ability to see dead people.

Hm... where have I heard that plotline before? Could it be because it's the exact same plotline of my Nicki Styx novels? :-)

Granted, Nicki Styx is not a pudgy, middle-aged, depressed dentist who lives in Manhattan, but other than that... (and here is where I state, for the record, that I wrote the first draft of DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY way back in 2004, and it was published over a year ago)... other than that, it had so many similarities to what I'm writing that it was a bit freaky.

For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I originally found the casting a bit odd (Ricky Gervais is a great actor, but casting a pudgy, pasty British guy as a romantic interest for Tea Leoni - who's a total hottie - seemed strange), but he pulled it off. Greg Kinnear was perfect as the arrogant, pain-in-the-ass businessman ghost who wouldn't leave poor Dr. Pincus alone. Lots of interesting secondary characters, and some really funny moments, mixed in with some deep emotions about life, death and social isolation among the living as well as the dead. I give it 5 stars, if anyone's interested. :-)

I couldn't help but pick apart the similarities, though - the overall theme of the movie is learning how to give of yourself and do the right thing for other people, even though you don't necessarily want to. How "doing unto others" leads to becoming a better person yourself. Interesting concept, huh? ;-)

I'm not claiming plagiarism, because there's no way to patent an idea and I accept that, but there was one particular scene that made my husband and I both gasp out loud and elbow each other in the theatre:

Tea Leoni is an archeologist who asks Dr. Pincus (Ricky Gervais), for his opinion regarding the dental situation of a 2000 yr old mummy. As they lean over the mummified remains, Dr. P. explains how the cause of death was most likely an absessed tooth. He makes the comment about how once infection set in, it was only a matter of time before the Egyptian guy ended up with "pennies on his eyes". Leoni corrects him, saying it would've been a penny in his mouth, because ancient Greeks believed that bodies should be buried with a coin for the ferryman, who ferried lost souls across the River STYX. Um, hello... the mummy was Egyptian, not Greek, so the history was completely taken out of context, and the line of dialogue was completely random and out of place. Hubby was convinced that it was a reference to my books. He's sweet like that. :-)

Anyway, a solid thumbs-up to Ghost Town, whether the script writers have been reading my books or not. LOL