Official Site

Director: Paul Feig

Writers: Katie Dippold, Paul Feig

Runtime: 1h 56 min

Main Cast:

• Kristen Wiig as Erin Gilbert
• Melissa McCarthy as Abby Yates
• Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan
• Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann

Review: by Chris

College professor Erin Gilbert (Kirsten Wiig) has her career uprooted when a book she wrote years ago resurfaces and forces her to reunite with old friend Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) . When some strange paranormal things happen in the neighborhood, the two friends along with engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and transit worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) must track down the cause. In their way is a Mayor trying to cover the whole thing up and a public that doesn't believe them, on their own must come together as the Ghostbusters and stop the destruction of the city, and maybe the world.

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What I Liked:

The Intro. Whoa, talk about a tone setter. The film opened with a tease of the first major ghost and it was really well done. Good jokes, solid pacing, and pretty good effects work. Mix all that with great usage of the original theme song and you have a Ghostbusters film starting off on the right track.

The team. This was one of the things that worried me most about this movie. That the talented actresses would be regulated to their tried and true schtick and not really have real character to play with. With the exception of Leslie Jones at times, each member of the ghostbusters had a pathos that motivated them to make the decisions the movie places in front of them. Kristen Wiig’s Erin and Melissa McCarthy’s Abby had a clear passion for the paranormal and their backstory guided their different approaches. It was actually interesting to watch those arcs come to a conclusion and it was a nice surprise. Kate McKinnon stole the show most of the time as the eccentric engineer Julian Holtzmann. She was a cartoon character come to life and was full of expression and energy. Stealing (or ruining) almost every scene she’s in, she made for a great mad scientist.

The action. One thing I definitely didn’t expect was the amount of actual ghost-busting done in the movie. After the first ghost appearance we move pretty quick to the ghostbusters doing their job well, getting cool weapons, and then doing it again. The action was well done as well with some fun set pieces and gags during the third act. The ghost designs were also good for the most part (besides some corny themed ghosts at the end) with some really cool little details.

Kevin…sometimes. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) plays Kevin the receptionist for the team. He’s an idiot, and that’s about it. But the way they play with just how stupid he was made for some decent laughs. His Homer Simpson like approach to stupidity, as if he knows he’s dumb but doesn’t care, comes through great at times and it’s clear Hemsworth is having a good time. Though sometimes his gags went on a little too long, but we will get to that later.

What I Didn’t Like:

Lame jokes sometimes hit right in the middle of solid scenes took away from some of my favorite parts. It happened more than I liked, sometimes feeling like an SNL skit that went on too long. As fun as Holtzmann was on screen, the camera would cut to her only for her to make a funny face or some kind of gesture adding nothing but annoyance to book end a scene. She’s great in doses, but sometimes she was overused to force a joke. Kevin got stale in a few scenes as well, dragging down the pace for an odd joke here and there. We get it, Kevin is dumb as cardboard, but let us miss him before tossing him into another scene for a one liner. That can be said for a lot of the comedy. As good as many of the jokes are, there are an equal amount of forced, or downright unfunny gags which would awkwardly just cut to another scene.

Weak Villain. The movies villain had a decent plan….(i think? it was flashy tho) but he has an empty vessel. His motivations were silly and lame, plus the actor didn’t seem like he was told to do much. There were some allusions to a parallel between him and Kristen Wiig’s character but those seemed to be scrapped, which is disappointing considering the interesting places that story could’ve gone.

Bill Murray. Man oh man. I am a big Murray fan, dude has tons of screen presence and charisma, but MAN did he phone it in here. I haven’t seen an actor so uninterested in being in a movie in a long time. His character was completely forgettable and added nothing to the story. It’s even worse considering other Ghostbusters cameos were handled much better, with one getting a round of applause from the audience. When Bill Murray is on, he can steal the show, and it’s clear he was more than off.

Leslie Jones . Now I am not a fan of her comedy, but she wasn’t bad at all here and surprised me in a few scenes. Her Patty was more there for reactions and there was some potential. Unfortunately, it’s clear the director wasn’t sure of how to use her, she doesn’t get much to do here and doesn’t have as much of an interesting story or quirk as the rest of the team. She was a normal-everyday person, and her introduction felt less organic from the rest. It feels weird to say this, but she wasn’t given too much to do, or to work with and I would’ve liked to see more.

Images Courtesy of IMDB