'Ghostbusters' Review

Image from The Nerd Machine

By Diego Coya

            Within the past decade, Hollywood has been known to remake and reboot beloved classics. The 1984 action/comedy film Ghostbusters, was inevitably going to be rebooted. In this reboot, we have all female lead actresses which include Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wigg, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. The premise follows two paranormal enthusiasts, an engineer, and a subway worker who team up to stop a ghost invasion on Manhattan. As paranormal situations start to happen, civilians and the government begin to question whether the Ghostbusters are frauds or heroes trying to save the city. Among the journey, we are introduced to the phone receptionist Kevin, and the villain.

            There has been so much negativity prior to this movie’s release, it had to have been terrifying for director, Paul Feig. This is due to the atrocious trailers that were marketed for this movie; the trailers were the reason why this was my least anticipated film of the summer. After watching the movie, I can honestly say that the reboot of Ghostbusters is not the disaster that I thought it was going to be, but at its best it is a mediocre film. There were a few times where I chuckled here and there, but the comedy for the most part falls flat. All of the lead actresses are funny comedians, who have shown that they have talent in their previous films, but the problem is the script and the direction is not very good.

            The chemistry between the lead actresses was pretty solid; I believed that these females were friends who respected each other. Out of the four lead actresses, Leslie Jones was the standout. She provides some humor that works, but the problem is that most of the humor feels very forced. There are many scenes in which the lead actresses go back and forth with dialogue, and it was obvious that the intention was to make the audience laugh but the humor did not feel genuine. Additionally, the movie has tons of slapstick humor and fart jokes that get very repetitive after a while.

            Chris Hemsworth plays the phone receptionist who plays one of the stupidest characters in any movie or TV Show. One of the best scenes in the movie is when he has his interview, but his stupidity was really obnoxious and repetitive after a while. Essentially, every man in this film is either a despicable human being or a complete idiot; there is not one male character that is likeable. Which leads to the absolutely awful villain, I still can’t say what his motivation is because it does reveal some spoilers to an extent, but it simply does not make any sense. His character was so poorly written; frankly the movie did not need him.

            Even though I did not hate the reboot of Ghostbusters as much as I thought I would, I do not recommend it because it simply is not a good movie. The negative for the most part outweigh the positive and the lead actresses deserved a better script and a better overall movie. While there are a few chuckles here and there and good chemistry between the characters, it is not enough to save the film as a whole. If you are a huge fan of the original film, I would say just watch that again and wait to see this movie when it goes to cable.

Rating: 5/10