“Is there something odd in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?” If you haven’t watched it recently, try to find a good copy, because on a pure visual level it looks legitimately great, thanks to Ivan Reitman and cinematographer László Kovács.
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The new “Ghostbusters” stars Kate McKinnon, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Leslie Jones in the roles originally created by Ramis, Ackroyd, Murray and Hudson. The trailers for the new movie are so good you might be fooled into believing it is actually worth seeing, but the film is a stunning misfire.
So the structural problem that makes so many action comedies weak, the problem that crippled Pixels (2015) and made other big special-effects spectaculars so unfunny, is much too present here: The jokes do not come from characters, but from situations. The cameos in particular aren’t particularly amusing, and seem to be there as a stamp of approval by the original cast on the new version.
McCarthy: The first two “Ghostbusters” loomed so large. It is not the best film in the series but this Ghostbusters has plenty of things for all ages to like. Which characters would we forever associate with the singular word Ghostbusters: Dr. Peter Venkman, Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Raymond Stantz, and Winston Zeddmore or Dr. Erin Gilbert, Dr. Abby Yates, Dr. Jillian Holtzmann, and Patty Tolan?
Ghostbusters, directed by Paul Feig and starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, opening on July 15th in the United States, is expected to face a hard opening weekend, with a projected $50 million take off a $144 million budget.
As with most culture war skirmishes of the past several years, the little boys of all ages are wrong about the new Ghostbusters.
They were pretty amusing. While the movie is undoubtedly entertaining, it does have ample shortcomings, specifically in the story department, and that’s something that the original had perfected. The gender switch is neither an intrinsically great idea nor a betrayal of sacred tradition-why shouldn’t women get their shot at the proton guns while a hunky male, played by Chris Hemsworth, provides the movie’s version of a dumb blonde? She’s also still selling the book they co-authored online and elsewhere. They hit the nail on the head. A final note to the reader: you will want to stay for the credits, and all the way to the end.
I agreed with Erin 100%. It’s just that afterwards, all I could think about how much better it could have been to see a sci fi/horror/action movie with all these people that wasn’t, practically by design, struggling to leave the shadow of one that already exists. Some are more fun than others, and while I appreciate this reverence to the source material as a fan, the callbacks can occasionally get in the way of the new cast and story.
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However, not all fans will get to see the film, especially if you’re from China. These ladies ain’t afraid of no ghosts, either. If you’re considering taking kids under the age of 13 though, just a word of caution that there might be a certain hand gesture that you may need to explain so they don’t replicate it.
