The 2016 Ghostbusters reboot has been the subject of much contention on the internet. The movie reimagines the Ghostbusters as four women, retelling the story from scratch with only a loosely similar premise (After being ejected from their universities, a group of much-scorned misfits sets up shop to capture ghosts). The movie boasts an amazing, funny cast, with the four Ghostbusters being played by Melissa McCarthy as Abby Yates, Kristin Wiig as Erin Gilbert, Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan and Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann. Director Paul Feig also has a pretty good track record with comedies, as his movies Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy were all very enjoyable.
But the reaction on the internet was infamously inflammatory. Some of it was obvious misogyny that tore down the cast of women, while more subdued criticism was down to understandable trepidation about reboots and a lackluster trailer. Regardless, we had tons of internet denizens branding this movie as terrible before even seeing it. But in the end, the 2016 Ghostbusters, which many feared would be franchise-ruining and childhood-destroying was…a pretty fun movie.
A lot of the movie is made enjoyable by the great cast. All four of the main ladies are distinctive, dynamic and have fantastic chemistry with each other. They’re also all pretty likeable, which is pretty unusual for modern comedies. Even when they’re being jerks, who get a sense of a good heart and real love for each other underneath. Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann character is a standout, as her eccentricity, daring and wacky scientist hijinks are always good for a laugh.
But all of the main cast works great together. In addition to the women, we have the brainless and beautiful secretary Kevin, played by Chris Hemsworth. His goofy background antics are fantastic and while his lack of intelligence is often joked about, the humor feels really affectionate rather than mean-spirited. He’s the big dumb little brother for the weird family that is the Ghostbusters.
Many feared the movie would be all slapstick gags and ecto-vomit. While there is a good amount of both, there’s a lot of subtle, character-based humor in the movie too. Deadpan lines like “And this is where P.T. Barnum first got the idea to enslave elephants” in the opening “history tour” of the movie deliver a dry wit and the running gag where poor Abby can never get a decent soup from the sarcastic delivery boy is a fun thread throughout.
There’s also some hints depth to the characters like you usually get from good comedies. The movie starts out with Erin having abandoned her friend Abby and we find she has a rough history with ghosts that informs a lot of who she is. I also liked that the four women have pretty distinct relationships with each other- Abby and Erin are old friends who butt heads a lot and have a complicated history, Holtzmann (who yes, is gay-but-the-studio-won't-let-them -say-it) has a sort of teasing flirtation going with Erin that Erin seems both bemused and flattered by, Patty is especially protective of Abby and seems sort of freaked-out by Holtzmann but warms up to her slowly and so on.
There were plenty of cameos from the original Ghostbusters throughout the movie, but for the most part, they weren’t overbearing- just fun little nods and winks rather than hitting you over the head with a mallet. There was clearly a lot of affection for the original at play.
But the movie definitely isn’t perfect. It’s an enjoyable, fun movie but is by no means mind-blowingly amazing. The start of the movie and some other places are pretty slow and there are quite a few awkward jokes that fall flat (the whole sequence in the middle where Patty isn’t caught by the mosh pit like Abby is and says she doesn’t know if it was a “race thing or a lady thing” (how could it be a lady thing when Abby was caught?) stands out as one of the most cringe-y ones), though the same could be said for a lot of comedies. You also definitely felt that there were scenes that were cut out. I know Feig is going to release a slightly extended edition of the movie for the DVD and I’m curious if that will flow better.
As it was, one particular weird “it seems like we skipped over something involving this” moment was when a character apparently died and it was because of something one of the Ghostbusters did. The victim in question was a jerk who egged her into it, but you’d still expect there to be a little more guilt and emotional turmoil over something like that and it seems like it would have been a good turning point in that Ghostbuster’s character arc if it hadn’t been glossed over. But it was, so it left her character arc feeling a little thin and the pacing of the movie feeling a little off.
I was also pretty disappointed that Patty’s historical knowledge didn’t come into play more in the film. I thought it was a really cool idea to have someone who knows their history as a member of the team and thought she’d be able to communicate and connect with a ghost that way- but not much ever came of it. Also, when it became clear Patty had historical knowledge, but worked in a train station job she disliked, I expected a gag that maybe she’d majored in history but it was really hard for a history major to find a job. (As an English major, I would have related so hard to such a joke). Alas, that was not to be.
With the aforementioned cringe-y race joke and stuff like that, I can understand why some people are saying Patty edges toward some lazy racial stereotypes. At least she was a memorable, fun character rather than just sort of “there” like Ernie Hudson’s character in the original (The “there”-ness of Winston issomething Hudson himself has commented on). While we’re on the subject, the jokes about Chinese food and Chinatown with nary a Chinese person in the cast were pretty awkward too.
In the end, the Ghostbusters reboot wasn’t an endlessly side-splitting work of genius, but it was a solid comedy with a lot of fun action scenes that I’d say is worth seeing. It’s certainly better than the other summer fare we’ve gotten so far. I actually do hope it does well enough to usher in a franchise rebirth starring these actors. The cast is awesome and the characters have a lot of potential that wasn’t really explored as much as it should have been. I want to see more and I hope the internet controversy doesn’t prevent people from giving this movie a chance.
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