Ghostbusters was a huge part of my childhood, I’ll just get that out right off the bat. I remember it was one of the first DVDs I actually owned myself – I got the Double Pack with Ghostbusters 2 for my ninth birthday, because my birthday was on Friday the 13th. It was a Halloween themed birthday. So over the years, I’ve watched the original countless times, and it’s one of my main comfort films. It just takes me back to being a kid…long story short, I absolutely love it
So was I excited when I heard about a remake? No. I was pissed, I didn’t want them to ruin my childhood. But then again, I’ll always have my childhood in the original, and if the new movie gave today’s youth the enjoyment and cherishment I feel for the original then hey! I was okay with that. Even if it was just another cog in Hollywood’s unoriginal remake machine, of which I am not a fan. But let’s see how it is. Maybe it’ll be a good’un?
The other day, I sat down and watched it. What did I think? Well…
It was okay. It wasn’t brilliant, but it wasn’t terrible. It was good, and fun, if you only see it once. I don’t think I’ll be rewatching this movie any time soon, but it was fine for what it was. Which happened to be a decent film.
Now, I don’t have much experience with Paul Feig as a director – I haven’t seen Bridesmaids…or…any other film by him. Has he done other films? Anyway. I thought his direction was…I’m struggling to find synonyms with “decent” and “competent” here…it was nothing special. From what I’ve seen (I’ve heard good things about Bridesmaids, so I’ll hold off from making complete judgments), from what I’ve seen he’s no Edgar Wright, in terms of a comedy director. But then again, it’s hard to match Mr Wright. God he’s good.
Writing wise, the film was better than some comedies, and I thought it started off really well, but then it sort of flounders towards the end of the second act, and then the third act is pretty bog standard. Not very creative. The movie sort of loses momentum, and then (for me anyway) the jokes started drying up. Which, in a comedy, isn’t ideal.
That’s the thing, there were quite a few good jokes in here – I did chuckle quite a bit, if I’m being completely honest. I’m not saying the jokes are great, but they’re not bad. Some of there were really funny, in a cheap sort of way. However, there were some points where a joke was driven into the ground or unnecessarily built upon when it was already funny, but on the whole it was a good, fun film. For the first half at least.
Except for the soundtrack. That god awful cover of the Ghostbusters theme needs to be fucking exorcised, god damn! Holy fuck that was horrible. I was drinking when that came on, and I spat out my drink. I’m lucky I didn’t get my laptop! And then there was some…questionable music over the credits.
The acting was you know…okay. It wasn’t memorable, but everyone seemed to inhabit their characters, which is good. Kate McKinnon was really good, I thought she was the stand out. Her character had the most personality. Melissa McCarthy was Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig was okay. Leslie Jones was pretty good too, she had some of the stronger comedic moments. Chris Hemsworth was pretty good, and I loved how he had his Aussie accent.
The cameos were pretty shit. Most of them were wasted in fleeting moments, and Bill Murray was strangely unfunny. How do you make Bill Murray not funny? He’s funny in real life for fuck’s sake!
Dan Ackroyd had a great cameo…but then they forced it too much, and it was cringy. Cringy describes most of the cameos. Cringy describes most of this movie.
As the movie wore on, and the big villain and his plan were revealed, the movie got less and less funny. I got really (really) bored for quite a stretch there, and it was only really the likability of the leads that kept me watching. And then the ending happens, and…I’ll be honest. I really only skimmed the ending. I mean, it might be good, but it just lost my interest completely. Like, when the movie was just about the characters bouncing off each other, it was fun – the cast had good chemistry, but when it tried to plot it was just…shit.
So that’s the new Ghostbusters. Forgettable – at times funny, at times bland. Should it have been made? Ideally no, but is it absolute garbage? Not quite. Does it deserve the name Ghostbusters? I don’t even care. But that’s the thing about this movie, I didn’t really care about anything. I mean it was fun and all, but the villain was just a random bloke, and the entire third act was skippable. There was nothing to latch onto really.
I will always love the original. Nothing can change that, certainly not this movie. It wasn’t trying to destroy the legacy of Ghostbusters, and you could tell it came from a love of the original, but in the end it just wasn’t brilliant. It was fun and enjoyable, and certainly stands on its own (especially compared to some remakes). It’s a decent time, so if you have a spare two hours, chuck it on, but otherwise I wouldn’t really go out of my way to see it.
And so, I award Ghostbusters (the 2016 one):
5/10 Flamingos. Maybe 6 if I’m being nice. And I like being nice.
So…
6/10 Flamingos
(Going just on the first half it would be a definite 6/10)
Reviewing the Viewing Debuting 