Ghostbusters (2016), directed by Paul Feig, stars Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, Andy Garcia, and Cecily Strong. The film is a reimagining/remake of Ghostbusters (1984), featuring an all-female lead cast. It follows a similar plot to the original film, focusing on a group of scientists and troublemakers as they team up to fight supernatural entities in the heart of New York City. The group is soon faced with mass public ridicule due to the fact that they can’t prove the existence of these so-called “ghosts.” Because of this, they’re forced to ban together and save the day… Alone.

The cast is generally a lot of fun when taking into account all the little cameos this film has to offer. Big actors show up for a laugh and then are never to be seen again. It feels a bit pandering considering that these cameos don’t mean anything in terms of the story, but I’d be lying if I said they didn’t make me smile. Sometimes it’s fun to be pandered to, but it does have to occur sparingly to avoid becoming irritating. Unfortunately, these fun cameos are about as good as they get in terms of entertaining characters. It really is a shame that the 4 Ghostbusters are the least fun characters in the film. Sure, they get involved in some entertaining shenanigans, but I never found myself liking them. What worked so well about the previous two films were the characters and their interactions with one another. In this film, the laughs are sourced through specific situations as opposed to the characters’ clashing personalities. In the original films, even if the set piece is weak, the likable characters often elevate those scenes to the point of gut-busting hilarity. This reimagining just can’t decide what it wants these main characters to be. It simultaneously tries to make these characters new while also having them act as stand-ins for the original characters. Because it tries to do both, it doesn’t succeed with either. Their comedic energy also feels a bit forced/acted. You can tell exactly when these actresses are improvising and when they are performing written bits. The thing is, their improvisation is noticeably weak compared to the original crew, and the written moments feel unnatural/forced even though they’re noticeably more intelligent. At the end of the day, it just feels like these actresses are here for a paycheck as opposed to a deep love for the IP. 

The gender swap of the main cast is an interesting and brave choice, but is it a smart one? This choice makes sense on paper in terms of juxtaposing the original film’s patriarchal brand of comedy. That being said, why would the filmmakers make the specific choice to alienate the franchise’s core fans by not just going in a “different” direction with the comedy, but the complete “opposite” direction? The film’s brand of comedy clashes so much with the original’s that I just can’t realistically see this satisfying fans of the franchise in any way. I just wonder, “Who is this movie for?” Director Paul Feig uses a similar brand of comedy that he used with Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids (2011). I find Bridesmaids to be decently funny, but that style of comedy is a long way from what fans of Ghostbusters expect. It all comes across as awkward as opposed to cool and confident in the way that the series has traditionally been. At the time of this film’s release, I’ll admit that it felt like a huge slap in the face to Ghostbusters fans. Now, away from all the emotions, I see this more as a fun little experiment that does succeed in expanding the Ghostbusters world.

Most of the jokes in the film are frustratingly juvenile to the point of fart jokes and kicks in the nuts. There’s also a lack of true serious moments that allow the viewer to breathe in between all of the movie’s juvenile silliness. It’s just a tonal mess, confused about when to be serious and when to be silly. For example, the film chooses to give the “ghostbusting” scenes a heavy action movie edge. Ghostbusters is a lot of things, but never an action film. Some of the funniest scenes in the franchise rely on the manic hilarity of how inept the crew is while ghostbusting. It feels strange that the movie expects us to get all serious when the crew starts ghostbusting, especially when the film doesn’t ask us to take anything seriously leading up to it. The film begins to take itself seriously precisely at the moment when it shouldn’t. 

The film is also much too reliant on callbacks to the first two films which is odd because the film seems pretty self-aware about the fact that fans of the original films probably won’t like this movie. It feels confusing to alienate a certain audience while simultaneously pandering to them. It also copies the basic plot structure of the original film pretty closely. This results in the film feeling a good 30 minutes too long due to this strict adherence. It chooses to not cut certain scenes simply to pander to the audience’s nostalgia. 

Overall, this is an extremely goofy film that does the bare minimum to capture the magic of the original two films. The script is choppy, the jokes rarely hit, and the CGI actually looks worse than the original film that came out almost 3 decades earlier. The various cameos are a lot of fun and I appreciate the film’s “who cares” attitude. At the end of the day, the film’s biggest failure is trying to be a Ghostbusters movie when it’s clearly not. It just doesn’t carry over any of the magic that made the original films so entertaining. At the end of the day, this movie can be enjoyable if one doesn’t hold it up too closely to the legacy of the original films. That being said, It’s still just a middle-of-the-road comedy any way you look at it. The film doesn’t insult me and there are things to appreciate, but I’ll never say I like it. At most, it’s worth a shrug of the shoulders. C