Visually, dramatically, structurally and comically the “Ghostbusters” reboot is a likable mess.
It moves in fits and starts while recycling the premise of the 1984 film and its only original idea is to reverse the gender of the characters. This gives it an opportunity to explore the comic concept and interactions from the other end of the telescope, but which it does not do often enough to sustain it.
The result leaves the characters – a brainy Kristin Wiig, feisty Leslie Jones, straight man Melissa McCarthy and twitchy Kate McKinnon – stranded and armed with nothing but their proton packs. Chris Hemsworth’s dumb beefcake receptionist – whose glasses have no lenses – is as deep as this role reversal gets.
Earlier this week, the film was given a dismal 3.8 score out of 10 on IMDB presumably by fanboy haters. And even Donald Trump attacked it for political correctness.
But its failures are not the actors’ fault.
In fact the few pleasures in a film co-written and directed by Paul Feig, who directed McCarthy in “Bridesmaids,” “Spy” and “The Heat,” are ensemble based. The stars are skilled performers each with a strong comic identity. And they add a welcome “can’t we all get along” sense of sorority.
But they are competing with legends. Original cast members – chiefly Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray – were part of a generational tsunami in comic sensibility shared by admittedly male centric works as diverse as Doonesbury, The National Lampoon and David Letterman.
By the time the original “Ghostbusters” was released its co-screenwriter Ramis, already had “Caddyshack,” Animal House,” “Stripes” and “Meatballs” under his belt and directed “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” In 1993 he wrote and directed “Groundhog Day.”
These films were made, Ramis who died in 2014 and to whom the new film is dedicated, told me in 2006, by people with “a rigorous standard of comedy” who were “grandiose enough to think they would become classics.”
In the process they helped drag the fringe to the mainstream. Its reboot offspring, by comparison, is mainstream right down to a garden variety destruction of Manhattan indistinguishable from any effects driven film.
However its digital recreation of NYC from the 1970s, unleashed by the ghosts, is so subtly clever many won’t notice it.
And the new film does pay homage to the original. Seven original cast members make cameo appearances – including, Ramis appropriately posthumously – the most notable of which is Aykroyd’s cabbie who gets to say he “ain’t afraid of no ghosts.” Ivan Reitman, who directed the first film, is a producer of the reboot.
The original “Ghostbusters” was ranked as 28th on a list of the best film comedies of all time by the American Film Institute, a reminder that the best films endure. The remake will be a box office hit and, as an after credit scene suggests, will spawn a sequel. But it is unlikely to ever be considered a classic.
**1/2 Two and one half stars
With Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCartthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Zach Woods, Charles Dance, Steve Higgins, Karan Soni, Ed Begley Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Cecily Strong, Andy Garcia.
Produced by Amy Pascal, Ivan Reitman.
Written by Katie Dippold, Paul Feig. Directed by Paul Feig.
Rated PG-13; fantasy action, mild crude humor.
Approximate running time: 116 minutes.
Tags: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ghostbusters, Harold Ramis, Kate McKinnon, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig Posted by