SORRY, RICK GERVAIS!

FUNNY how many other critics have been a lot kinder to Ricky Gervais' new movie Ghost Town than I was yesterday.

Suddenly, it makes you think: 'Are they right?'

Or, even worse, 'Am I Wrong?'

Well, for starters, how can I be wrong about my own, honest opinion?

It's impossible!

And, if you were a newcomer to this site taking trouble trouble to read all the way through it, you'd soon see my middle names could actually be 'Not often wrong' in terms of the market I love.

Hopefully, I've been watching films on behalf of the Mail for sufficiently long - almost 20 years - for you to also know that if I like something, you might hate it.

And vice-versa.

Which is exactly how things should be.

Just for a Brit like Ricky Gervais to get the chance to lead this film shows how well he's doing, so good luck to him.

But, half way through, I typically asked myself if I'd ever want to go and see Ghost Town again in a cinema and the answer was a resounding 'No'.

Ghost Town is also one of those films where they've given away too much in the trailer, which weakens the more obviously funny bits and thus exposes the over-contrived plot for what it is.

And so, two stars it had to be for me (just like Wendy Ide from The Times).

Some critics have even made reference to It's a Wonderful Life, for example.

But, while my brother-in-law could watch James Stewart in Frank Capra's classic film every year - and very often does - I can't see too many people finding Ghost Town as endearing.

Which is probably why some critics have been almost apologetic for awarding four stars (and how any of them could give Incendiary any stars at all is another matter altogether) out of their love for Ricky.

With Ghost Town, then, it might well be that many viewers who go expecting a lot will be disappointed.

Whereas anyone who read my review might well come out thinking it was better than expected - and that's very often a really good emotion!

It will be interesting to discover how Ghost Town plays on the small screen, though, since far too many 'comedies' are no longer fit to be seen in a family living room.

As soon as Tea Leoni's role kicks in, I thought she was the best thing in it and that maybe she's one of the few actresses who can be warm, funny and sexy.

On this form, she must have been relatively shortchanged in her career to date with films like The Family Man, Jurassic Park III, Fun With Dick and Jane and You Kill Me.

But she's certainly brave, given that you can already imagine some headlines if she gets her next film wrong.

It's title is... Manure.