Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Katie Dippold, Paul Feig (Screenplay) Ivan Reitman, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis (Original Screenplay)
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Charles Dance, Michael Kenneth Williams, Neil Casey, Ed Begley Jr
Plot: Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly threat.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Hard to Get Through
Story: Ghostbusters starts as we meet Erin Gilbert (Wiig) a professor who in her early career wrote a book with her friend Abby Yates (McCarthy) about the hunt for ghosts which brings Ed Mulgrave (Begley Jr) to investigate the Aldridge mansion. With Erin about to get her dream career she must go back to Abby to see her about their book where she meets Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) who has been working with Abby.
When the three see an actual ghost, they start to work together to start their own ghost hunting business with new heartthrob receptionist Kevin (Hemsworth). When subway worker Patty Tolan (Jones) witnesses a ghost in the subway she joins the newly formed Ghostbusters to save the city of New York from a ghost invasion.
Ghostbusters is a film that was instantly disliked by most people because the original is considered a true classic and no one wanted a remake, reboot or sequel. Now going into this I was going to ignore that judgement but as I dislike most comedies this was always going to be had to enjoy. I must start with the fact I simply just do NOT find Melissa McCarthy funny at all, Kristen Wiig is solid in this role but I did find Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones and Chris Hemsworth to be good for laughs.
The story is all too like the original with the disgraced ghostbusters having to redeem themselves by the end. While I love the setting of New York I feel the film doesn’t use it enough and the special effects just don’t hit the marks I would expect from a film of that budget. I am not going to say this is because of the female leading cast because I do think it could have worked if the characters weren’t all looking for laughs and then mixing everything too many pop culture references that will be out dated within a few years.
Overall: This is unnecessary reboot/remake/sequel which ever they want to call it that plays for the laughs instead of the fantasy element of the idea.
Rating
I went into this movie with low expectations and man, it was worse than I could have imagined. there are some many people on this movie I like and admire, but the story didn’t hold my interest and THREE SOUP JOKES? come on! I think my wife fell asleep twice. We so wanted to like this movie, but this was a miss for me. what else can you say? it’s a comedy that didn’t make me laugh.
it is true to say it isn’t a good comedy, and it all comes back to how Hollywood doesn’t want to create an original idea, why can’t we get an original comedy about four women who want to fight ghosts? instead of rehashing a classic. the only thing i enjoyed in the film was Hemsworth happily making fun of the fact people only see him as a pretty face even though he is a very impressive serious actor.
I think the whole Hollywood franchise/licensed property phenomenon is a simple business decision for them. it’s easier to make 25 movies a year than 50 and you can do that when you already have a built in audience.
Here are the movie’s numbers:
Budget $144 million
Box office $229.1 million
that probably doesn’t include marketing and that was a huge campaign, so figure they spent another $10 on various ads. It’s still a nice profit, but not enough to set up a few franchise. so we just dodged the ghostbusters cinematic universe. And you know what? if this movie had worked, I’d probably of enjoyed it.
Things I liked about that movie? I liked it when McKinnon starts singing “Come out, come out wherever you are…” I liked it when it was over!
It could easily be argued the existing audience is the reason it only made that much because the audience didn’t want the memories of the great characters ruined.
I think in the continued Universe we could have had the 4 women characters idolize the film to a level where they have learnt the ‘real’ science behind everything from the 80s film to become real ghostbusters in the modern world, with this you keep the connection and introduce new characters and even a fresh approach to a story, in the same kind of vein Galaxy Quest did to Star Trek without using Star Trek name.
Yeah, I like your idea better, but your idea is riskier ! Studios like to play it safe these days
I find Melissa McCarthy so hit and miss!
Completely appreciate where you’re coming from but as a comedy fan I loved this, plus that soundtrack was rad 🙂
To me she is mostly miss, I didn’t hate it as much as others though