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Full disclosure: I love Ricky Gervais in anything he has ever done. I think The Office is one of the very best sitcoms every created. I loved Extras - and I love him in it. His stand up shows are fantastic - I paid to see his last one at the Royal Albert Hall and wasn't disappointed. I even watched his role in Stardust by skipping through the film until I hit his scenes, ignoring those that didn't feature him and - surprise - i thought he was great in it.

So it wont be a complete shock to learn that I very much enjoyed his first starring role in Ghost Town, a surprisingly sweet romantic comedy that features a typically Gervais lead character in Bertram Pincus. Pincus is a painfully anti-social dentist who goes in for a fairly routine bowel operation in the film's opening minutes. Unfortunately for Pincus he dies for 7 minutes on the operating table. When he's revived he finds he can communicate with the dead, all of whom have something they need to resolve on earth before moving on. Think 'The Sixth Sense: The Comedy.'

One of the dead, Frank (Greg Kinnear) believes the closure he needs is to stop his ex-wife (Tea Leoni) marrying a no good lawyer. He makes a deal with Pincus to stop irritating him, a la Patrick Swayze in Ghost, if he will help break up their relationship. Pincus decides the best way to do this would be to provide her with not too handsome, not too tall, likeable and round-faced alternative (a very Gervais line). His many years of avoiding any sort of human contact and keenly honed antisocial skills mean that his initial attempts to woo her prove very amusing.

Gervais was apparently given license to modify his character's part and the hallmarks of his his Extras chaacter Andy Millman are evident here. What Gervais may lack in range, he more than makes up for in comic timing and watching him on screen is watching a pro at work. Leoni is as good as she has ever been and Kinnear is becoming someone I enjoy watching - a far cry from his Oscar nominated irritation performance in As Good as it Gets, although I probably had a hard time separarting the performance from the loathesome character.

If you're not a Gervais fan then I suspect you wont be able to tolerate the Gervaisisms in this but at its heart is a very warm, satisfying tale that far outstrips the vast majority of romantic comedies. If you are a Gervais fan then it is guaranteed to please.