Columbia University teacher Dr. Erin Gilbert has been living a rather meager, uneventful life following the bombing of her book which discusses the possibility of existence beyond the realm of the living. When she discovers that the work has been republished by her co-author Dr. Abby Yates, who has continued throughout the years on her own research alongside the quirky and intelligent Dr. Jillian Holtzmann, Erin leaves to meet with her old acquaintance in hopes of finding out why. It doesn't take long for the trio to discover that not only is there life beyond death, but that the ghosts who inhabit our planet are the furthest thing from welcoming or friendly. With the assistance of streetwise, MTA worker Patricia Tolan, the new group open their own business so that they may help those in need, but find there may be something far more sinister brewing around Manhattan, and worse yet, that the rise of these phantoms is anything but coincidental.
Attention fellow nerds, geeks, and all-around lovers of things peculiar or out of the ordinary: Paul Feig's 2016 remake of Ghostbusters, the beloved 1984 supernatural horror/comedy, is a perfectly serviceable and fun motion picture. You can calm down, go about your daily lives, and save your incessant complaining for something far more important that truly deserves it.
Okay, that certainly isn't the most eloquent way to start an actual review, as it pretty much saves you the trouble of have to traverse and read the rest of my collected thoughts. And yet, getting that out of the way feels so incredibly satisfying. Prior to its opening day, I can not recall one particular cinematic release receiving this much blatant and ugly backlash solely based on it even daring to exist. It's honestly made me look at fans of the original in a much different, if not grim light. Even as somebody who never found myself laughing too much at the trailers that were released prior to 07/15/16, I felt like an alien by telling people to "give it a chance. Trailers lie. This is a FACT." I feel that years ago, people who were into very "niche" culture, which would include something like Ghostbusters, or things far more idiosyncratic such as Japanese animation, tabletop games, or comic books, could band together and stand as one. These days, I get the feeling that there is this mentality that if one person does not enjoy something, every other single person must know that they are inferior and wrong for finding joy in it. It's turning my fellow weirdos into the very things that they hated throughout high school and before. Vince McMahon of the WWE had a saying back in the latter half of the 2000s (albeit in character): "You don't like what you like." If such a stranger, if not more eerily prophetic thing has been uttered, then I would love to hear it.
Anyway, there's a flick to review here, right? I do indeed share fond memories and adoration for Ivan Reitman's classic about the emergence of a number of spirits and poltergeists, with a small assortment of scientists gathering together to develop a way to contain them before something truly catastrophic can occur. Whenever Ghostbusters comes on television, I feel the need to stop whatever I'm doing and watch, even if I'm in the midst of doing my taxes or trying to find a way to bury a body....erm, scratch that last part. There is some sort of magic present in that film that can never be replicated again, especially since co-star and writer Harold Ramis has unfortunately passed away. Before you ask, no, he does NOT make an appearance as a ghost in this iteration. While I'll admit that I'm not the hugest fan of its subsequent followup (I'll even go so far as to say that a lot of it felt kind of forced), I was never completely opposed to them reviving the franchise. Even if we ended up with a steaming turd, we have a plethora of memorabilia and other sources to provide us with entertainment, including two television shows, comic books, and video games. Hell, Activision came out with a new one this week!
The announcement of a newer installment did have me slightly worried though, as I am not the biggest fan of director Paul Feig's previous works. The decision to cast all female performers as our four protagonists never particularly bothered me, as there was never any signs that clearly pointed to the Ghostbusters having to be humans that share the Y chromosome. As luck would have it though, our cast ends up being one of the best aspects of 2016's Ghostbusters, as there is an indelible chemistry between our four leads that makes the audience feel quite welcome in this universe. I firmly believe that most of that comes from three fourths of the team having spent years together (in one way, shape, or form) on the nearly immortal sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live. Kate McKinnon (who I'm admittedly sad I'll never be able to ask out on a date) and Leslie Jones steal the show with nearly every facial expression, twitch, and line they are given, and Kristen Wiig is becoming more and more confident with being able to carry a majority of the weight of a picture with a larger budget on her back. One extra credit must also be given to Melissa McCarthy, who I still think is a very talented woman when she isn't starring in a vehicle spearheaded and written by her husband. Chris Hemsworth (Thor) also provides for some great comic relief, though he does start veering into the type of territory that makes you wonder if somebody can truly be this stupid and still breathing. I would much rather have this sense of camaraderie from a crew than to see a look of absolute dread or trepidation from older performers who want nothing to do with a series that they left behind oh so many years ago (see: Zoolander 2 and X-Men: Apocalypse).
Ghostbusters also does boast some fairly impressive visuals, even if the abundance of CGI does start to drag the product down a bit during the final act. The apparitions that are first encountered look fairly good, bringing to mind some of the otherworldly entities from cult favorites like The Frighteners. Some, such as the 2016 version of fan favorite Slimer, look nearly identical to their thirty-two year old ancestor, albeit with a brighter coat of paint (I hope people recall that the forerunner was played by a woman. Deal with that sexist douchebags). Others, like an absurdly large, skinny patriotic specter, do suffer from looking a tad bit, well, fake. But as someone who recently sat through the nearly insufferable Gods Of Egypt, I'll take any of the effects here every single time if somebody forces me to choose between the two properties. Newer technology is introduced to the franchise as well, and even those who come out unimpressed with the film should still be able to admit that the myriad of new devices shown off by McKinnon's Jillian Holtzmann are actually clever, if not adequately cool. I do wonder if a large chunk of these were devised to help sell toys though, and it certainly isn't beneath the movie to sneak in a few quick product placements here and there.
Is 2016's Ghostbusters perfect? Given the extreme rarity of that distinction, of course it isn't. Not every line delivers the laughs that it intends to, some of the supporting cast are blatant copies of characters from the 1984 version, and the various nods to Reitman's flick, though unabashedly charming, aren't fully necessary. But above all else, it has one essential, very important deciding factor that matters the most out of any cinematic experience: you never find yourself becoming bored. Paul Feig and co-writer Kate Dippold (of Parks and Rec fame) understand that this was a very difficult and nearly impossible job to take, and the two make damn sure that you will never find yourself rudely checking your cellphone or watch, wondering when you can go home. For that, I tip my hat to this new installment and can say that I didn't regret spending a single penny on it. Wait, my gigantic head can't fit a hat no matter how hard I try (it's clearly full of my own ego).
And if even after all of this, you're still spewing venom about the fact that this is playing in a theater near you and you think it's some sort of blight on the world of geek culture, ruining your childhood (a phrase that is beyond tiresome at this point), I give you this picture of Kristen Wiig on the red carpet premiere with a young female fan, eager and noticeably excited to meet her one of new favorite movie stars and someone to potentially look up to.
The world is a pretty sad, scary place right now, but observing something as simple as this makes it a tiny bit less terrible to a simple movie fan (and someone who still has a semblance of faith in humanity) like me. Just because your world is filled with darkness doesn't mean that you have to kill the light of those who haven't been enveloped in it yet. If this doesn't make you crack even half a smile, or still brings about rage from your festering, Burger King Mac and Cheetos-filled heart, let professional wrestling legend The Iron Sheik give you a proper response that I could never imitate, no matter how hard I try.
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