Knight at the Movies Archives
A riveting Katrina documentary, a familiar comedy staple catapults Ricky Gervais into Dudley Moore land
Only three years after the tragedy of the effects of the Katrina hurricane on New Orleans there have already been a slew of
documentaries on the subject with Spike Lee’s four hour opus
When the Levees Broke one of the most heart wrenching.  Lee’s film,
with its achingly bittersweet jazz score by trumpeter Terence Blanchard, is a lyrical, epic work that leaves one incredibly frustrated at
the lack of response and compassion to the victims of the disaster.  Now from filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin comes
Trouble
the Water which also fills one with rage but just as strongly illuminates, in the example of Kimberly and Scott Roberts, the will to
not only survive but triumph over such devastation.  In Kimberly, the crackling storm at the center of the film, they have found a
tremendously vital camera subject whose story personalizes the events.

The filmmakers originally intended to make a documentary about the National Guard who were flown back from Iraq and called into
service but not surprisingly, that path was blocked by wary officials.  Then they chanced upon Kimberly Roberts who had been filming
since the first storm warnings were broadcast.  After viewing her footage it didn’t take Deal and Lessin long to figure that they’d
found their story.  Roberts, a large woman who talks loudly and often speaks so rapidly the filmmakers add necessary subtitles
under her words, had captured a treasure trove of raw footage.  Instinct told Roberts to record what was about to happen so we see
life in the Ninth Ward, the hardest hit by the storm and the aftermath, as anticipation of the storm is approaching.  Having no money
to leave and with no offer of assistance or emergency transportation forthcoming, Roberts and her husband Scott, a large man with a
gentle smile, have no choice but to wait out the storm.  Many of their neighbors, including an uncle and a homeless local who is
shown sleeping on the sidewalk in a drunken stupor as the storm approaches, are shown to be in the same position.

Deal and Lessin incorporate Roberts’ rough, compelling footage with news footage and their own which takes a more studied
approach.  We see the water slowly, ominously rising until finally the Roberts and several neighbors are trapped in their attic.  Then,
heartbreakingly, we hear a series of 911 calls with survivors begging to be rescued and operators telling them point blank that no
one is coming.  The film cuts back and forth between the hurricane footage and its aftermath and we follow the Roberts, who hook
up with several other survivors, as their story unfolds – they assess the damage, head to a relatives, relocate to Memphis and
finally, return to their old neighborhood, determined to make a fresh start.

Throughout, Kimberly’s no nonsense, unsentimental approach, her vitality, tremendous humor, inbred compassion and her survival
instincts take center stage.  She and her husband are great camera subjects (he’s the wind beneath her wings).  When she performs
an original rap at the end of the film it’s like a clarion call to all other survivors to stand up and be counted.  Roberts doesn’t stand
around pointing the finger at government officials – this is a given in her world, long ago grudgingly accepted it seems – instead,
this survivor of a mother who died from AIDS when she was 13 is busy moving forward, dealing with life as it comes and rapping
about her experience (she performs under the name Black Kold Madina).  The moment when she returns to her home and salvages
the photograph of her late mother – the one time when tears seem near to the surface – speaks volumes in a movie filled with
them.  
Trouble the Water is simply a great film about a national disgrace and some remarkable “regular folks” who refused to let it
overwhelm them.

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As a screenwriter David Koepp has a solid gold plated resume that must make the mouths of studio heads water.  Beginning with
Jurassic Park in 1993 his blockbuster scripts have included Mission Impossible, Spider-Man, War of the Worlds, and the latest edition of
Indiana Jones.  His directing resume is not quite as impressive when considered in terms of box office clout – mostly suspense
thrillers highlighted by the Kevin Bacon vehicle Stir of Echoes.  But Koepp may find more directing jobs after the receipts are tallied
from
Ghost Town, an old fashioned, audience pleasing comedy (co-written with John Kamps) that is very much by the numbers, is
pleasantly diverting, and has the luck to arrive just before the flock of for your consideration movies just up ahead that would swamp
it in Prestige.

Ricky Gervais, the British star of TV hits “The Office” and “Extras” who has made an impression in key supporting feature film roles
(
Night at the Museum, Stardust) now stars in his first movie.  Though Greg Kinnear and Tea Leoni are also along for the ride it’s
Gervais’ picture from first to last and in one fell swoop the movies have found a successor to the late Dudley Moore.  Gervais, who
has the puckish look and stature of Moore doesn’t have his innate sexiness though he does have a winning smile that when
combined with his endless, speedy prattle, is very winning.  In
Ghost Town he plays one Bertram Pincus (a character name W.C.
Fields would have loved).  Pincus is a loner, a dentist who is so alienated from his fellow human beings and so sour that when his
partner in the dental office tells him his wife has had a baby and invites him to a celebration he doesn’t even react.  Instead, Pincus
sneaks past the celebrants in the office to his neat as a pin apartment and climbs into bed alone (he’s a blood brother to Harold
Crick, the fussy perfectionist Will Ferrell played in
Stranger Than Fiction).

Fate steps in after Pincus is declared dead for seven minutes during a routine colonoscopy (the scene in which the surgeon and the
hospital’s attorney reveal this news to Pincus is hilarious).  Upon awakening and returning home from the hospital Pincus discovers
that he can see the ghosts of the dead and that they want him to complete unfinished business for them (they include a kindly
grandmother played by Dana Ivey and a naked gay ghost played by Jeff Hiller).  The most persistent ghost is Frank Herlihy
(Kinnear), a smooth talking womanizer who wanders Manhattan after being hit by a bus in the first few moments of the film.  Frank
wants to prevent the re-marriage of his wife Gwen (Tea Leoni) who just happens to live in Pincus’ building.  After enough suitable
comedic haunting the cranky Pincus is convinced to offer himself as an alternate candidate.  As the rest of the story spins out ghosts
of many, many other movies make their appearances, most from the 80s – there are bits of
Ghost, Truly, Madly, Deeply,  Hearts and
Souls
, Just Like Heaven, and of course Blithe Spirit, the granddaddy of these ghostly rom-coms.  

But surprisingly, familiarity does not breed contempt rather, it lulls the audience – we’re in safe waters, the cruise ship of a movie is
being expertly guided by Koepp and the laughs and set pieces come right on cue to prove it.  We know that Gervais the ice cube will
be thawed, that Kinnear will repent for the womanizing, even beyond the grave, to the satisfaction of the widow and that Leoni will
end up with the elvish Gervais.  
Ghost Town is such a throwback to the 80s comedies that used this tireless formula over and over
that while watching it one easily imagines not just Dudley Moore in the Gervais part but Bruce Willis in the Kinnear role and Kate
Capshaw or Amy Irving playing Leoni’s grieving, earnest widow.  Like Moore, Gervais registers with American film audiences not just
because he’s so adept at delivering snarky comedic dialogue but because he’s cute as a bug.  His foul outlook can be reformed and
we can root for him to get the girl as well.  Gervais will succeed in the movies on a much larger scale than his fellow countryman
Rowan Atkinson (Atkinson’s scarecrow physicality and his weasel-like grin aren’t big crowd pleasers).  

Ghost Town is a suitable launching pad for Gervais’ screen persona and as the money comes in be prepared for a slew of other 80s
reinventions of the formula comedies shaped for Gervais to follow.  Don’t be depressed and don’t sigh about this. Gervais has the
lightning timing to bring them off and give them some freshness and maybe he’ll even invent some new formulas in the process
that will haunt a batch of far off ghostly romantic comedies in the decades ahead.
Tragedy/Comedy:
Trouble the Water-Ghost Town
Expanded Edition of 9-17-08 Knight at the Movies Column*
By Richard Knight, Jr.
*Ghost Town screened after my column deadline but in time for me to include it here