Ghost Wife

Extra Ordinary (2019) almost fits into our Heavy Metal Horror Comedy festival - missing the Heavy Metal though. 

It stars Maeve Higgins, an ordinary, heavy-set Irish woman who has a one-woman driving school. She gets home to listen to her voice mails - her outgoing messages tells callers to leave a message if they want driving lessons, but not about "that other thing" - she doesn't do that any more. That other thing turns out to be laying ghosts to rest. Her dad was a ghost expert with a line of VHS lectures, who was killed in an exorcism gone wrong that Higgins blames herself for.

Meanwhile, Barry Ward is at home getting ready for work, and being haunted by the ghost of his dead wife. Ward is also an ordinary guy, a woodworking instructor named Martin Martin (possibly because he is sort of playing Martin Freeman - the same kind of slightly annoyed everyman). His teen daughter, Claudia O'Doherty, wants him to find a ghost expert to get her mom laid to rest. Having a ghost around is kind of annoying.

The last thread involves Will Forte, as the singer of the one-hit wonder "Cosmic Lady". He needs another hit and the only way to get it is to sacrifice a verge to Satan. His virgin detector leads him to O'Doherty.

So Ward tries to get Higgins to deal with his dead wife, while Forte is scheming to get at O'Doherty. Higgins is also kind of falling for Ward - or at least wouldn't mind if he took an interest in her. She also needs to team up with him, because he can detect ghosts. He will let the ghosts inhabit his body, and then she can lay them, releasing them from this plane. One problem that arises - Ward's wife inhabits his body, and she's an evil-tempered, chain-smoking shrew, who thinks Higgins is a loose hussy after her Martin. 

The humor in this comedy is mostly mild and situational. Higgins' single woman with father issues gets interesting when ghosts are added to the mix. Ward's absolutely ordinary life with a ghost wife is cute too. This kind of low-key deadpan humor suits Will Forte of course, as well. The main joke is that these people are extremely ordinary - extra ordinary. 

SPOILER - it has a happy ending: Higgins doesn't marry Ward.