“We Don’t Hunt Ghosts. We Stalk Them.”
I remember all the coverage the reboot/remake of Ghostbusters received when it came out in 2016. Not being a diehard fan of the original (I’ve seen it, but as an adult and don’t remember much of it), I decided to skip the reboot, although I was curious if it was as bad as everyone said. Fast forward to finding it on TV, and I decided to give it a shot.
Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is in line for a tenured position until her past comes back to haunt her. A book she wrote with a friend years ago and forgot about is suddenly available. The problem? It’s on ghosts. As a result, Erin finds herself reunited with Abby (Melissa McCarthy) who has continued to investigate the supernatural.
Just about the time that Abby and her new research assistant, Jillian (Kate McKinnon), also get fired, the trio find irrefutable proof that ghosts are real. Another encounter introduces them to subway worker Patty (Leslie Jones). As more ghosts pop up, will this quartet figure out what is going on in time to stop it?
This is one of those times where I struggled with how I felt about the movie. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t exactly good either. I’ve watched worse movies, especially in the last couple of years, but I didn’t find myself caring at all about what happened here.
First of all, this movie seems to spend a long time giving us fan service moments. Yes, there are plenty of iconic shots that fans of the original will appreciate. Even with my one viewing over a decade ago, these elements are such a part of 80’s pop culture, I still immediately got what they were doing. But instead of working them in quickly, they hold the reveal until the last possible moment. Which makes me ask why. Why slow the film down?
Speaking of which, I get that this is a reboot, so we have to get the origins of the group again. But that really felt like it slowed things down. You know me, I’m never opposed to watching a movie when I know where something is going, but I wasn’t having the fun along the way I need to ignore that.
Which brings us to the biggest flaw with the movie to me. For a comedy, it just wasn’t funny. A few scenes were amusing at best, but the rest? It just kind of sat there not really doing much for me. They also continued trying to milk a joke beyond when it would have been funny, which, again, slowed things down.
And yes, I do have to point out how awfully this movie treats the male characters. I cannot think of one male character who is presented in a positive light. The only love interest we have is a jerk that is hardly in the movie. The dumb male secretary is a one note, one joke character who was fine for his first scene, but they kept going back to him for the exact same joke. If he was going to be in more than one scene, he should have been given something different to do.
I do think part of it is that I’m not normally a fan of most of the cast members. No, it’s nothing with their acting, which is all fine. I just don’t find their comedy funny, so it’s a matter of taste.
The effects have been updated from the original, which is no surprise given the amount of time between the two. A couple of times, the CGI was a little obvious, but for the most part, it worked.
The 2016 version of Ghostbusters is not nearly as clever or fun as it thinks it is. I was curious about it, so I’m glad I watched it, but I don’t have a desire to see it ever again.
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