Ghostbusters 2 (1989), directed by Ivan Reitman, stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, Peter MacNicol, and Kurt Fuller. The film picks up a few years after Ghostbusters (1984) and follows the team as they struggle to keep their business afloat. Ghosts have seemingly left New York City and the team is relegated to entertaining at children’s birthday parties as their second job. Venkman (Murray) is a talk show host, Ray (Aykroyd) owns a bookstore, Egon (Ramis) works at the university, and Winston (Hudson) struggles to find work. When a river of ectoplasmic slime is discovered flowing through the city’s abandoned subway tunnels, the group is forced to reunite in order to uncover the slime’s sinister purpose.

Once again, the main cast is the film’s biggest strength. The film succeeds in finding fun places to pick up with these characters. They’ve all gone in different directions and these directions feel simultaneously natural and hilarious. For example, Venkman works as the host of a television show that focuses on people with psychic abilities. This is a reference to a line in the first film where Dana (Weaver) refers to his character as a “game show host.” A lot of the jokes in Ghostbusters 2 work well, but they often rely on our memory of the first film. It feels like the film doesn’t stand well on its own. The film also focuses on quality over quantity in terms of its jokes. The jokes are noticeably lesser than the original film, but there’s a lot more of them. Because of this, it still succeeds at delivering laughs at a similar pace to the first film. Once again, the film remains timelessly funny because its comedy is centered around its characters and their interactions as opposed to a simple setup and punchline joke structure.

 Instead of maintaining the status quo of these characters, the film takes the risk of expanding on who these characters are, giving them more depth and somehow making us fall in love with them more than we already have. Even though the jokes are a bit underwritten, the characters are not. The film doubles down on the group’s shenanigans while just hanging out with one another. You can tell the cast is ecstatic to be back and it shows in their performances. It puts a big, goofy smile on your face even if it does ultimately distract from the film’s larger story.

We also get a bit more focus on characters such as Janine and Louis. The movie completely justifies this decision by making their dynamic one of the most entertaining in the film. However, I did find the choice to abandon the first film’s implied romance between Egon and Janine for a romance between Louis and Janine to be a bit odd. Speaking of odd choices, Dana and Venkman are once again separated at the beginning of the film. This is strange considering that this is the same dynamic in the first film. Instead of exploring where the relationship would be if they were together, we get a repeat of the first film. We never actually see them together, so it undermines any kind of development. Granted, it is nice to spend more time with the two considering that their chemistry is strong, but it once again feels like it distracts from the larger story.   

The film features a much weaker opening than the first film which speaks to the film’s horror elements feeling much less effective. The main villain is much more prevalent this time around, but that doesn’t mean he’s an improvement. He’s intimidating, but he’s no Zuul. There are also some extremely annoying characters such as Peter MacNicol as Dr. Janosz, Dana’s co-worker who becomes possessed. He uses this annoying European accent that is simultaneously awkward and unfunny. My last gripe has to do with the fact that the climax of the film can’t help but copy the climax of the original. I know the original has an iconic climax, but that’s a weak excuse to justify copying it.   

Overall, this is a step down from the first film but is still a worthy sequel that maintains what makes the comedy of Ghostbusters unique. It’s unapologetic “boomer comedy,” and although it occasionally feels dated, it’s hard not to laugh at the committed energy the various cast brings to the table. It’s not better than the first film, it’s not even close. I will probably only recommend this to people who are big fans of the original film. For those people, the film will most certainly deliver the goods. B-