'Ghostbusters' Is Just As Fun and Goofy As the Original, and Here's Why
Here’s the thing about the original Ghostbusters: the jokes are strong, the ensemble is fantastic and the ghosts perfectly straddle the line between being both amusing and terrifying at the same time. But what really made Ghostbusters such a great movie for its time was the way it reintroduced some of our favorite funnymen in an unfamiliar setting, allowing their already popular comedic sensibilities to play in an environment we weren’t used to seeing them in.
It’s like that 1984 Ghostbusters is a deep-fried Twinkie. You already love Twinkies — I mean, who doesn’t love a good Twinkie? — but when you deep fry a Twinkie it completely reinvents the way you experience that Twinkie. The flavors and essence of that Twinkie are still there, but now it’s got this extra flair that allows you to enjoy it in a new way.
The main reason why the 2016 Ghostbusters is just as strong as the original is because it taps into that same deep-friedishness. Instead of a group of popular male comedians and Saturday Night Live veterans, now we have a group of popular female comedians and Saturday Night Live veterans (and current castmembers) who apply their own hilariously whip-smart sensibilities to a comedy with sci-fi and supernatural elements, allowing us to experience their brand of humor in a whole new way.
As much as the film is full of nods to the original ’84 classic (and cameos from most of its cast), the new Ghostbusters still feels surprisingly refreshing, much in the same way all of director Paul Feig’s recent films feel. From the way he reimagined the wedding movie with Bridesmaids, to the way he reimagined the buddy-cop movie with The Heat, to the way he reimagined the action-comedy with Spy, Feig is a genius when it comes to reinterpreting a genre from a female perspective, and Ghostbusters is just the latest in a string of successful efforts.
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Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones masterfully navigate their way around a ghost-fueled movie that fully embraces their brand of comedy, just as Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson did all those years ago. And Feig — while continuously finding new ways to pay homage to the original — actually elevates his movie above the ’84 version at times by building a bit of a stronger framework around his story, his villain and his science.
Yes, this new Ghostbusters sciences the f**k out. It goes so hard with the nerdy language in an effort to make the film feel more grounded in the real world than the original that you’ll have no idea what they’re talking about at times, but you’ll appreciate the homework done by cowriters Feig and Kate Dippold (The Heat).
The best stuff
I’ve been rambling a bit, so let’s break it down:
— The film’s sense of humor is both modernized for 2016, but also very much rooted in old-school tropes. You’ll have scenes where the women are cracking jokes about nasty YouTube commenters (mirroring the film’s real-life struggles within the online forum) and getting into trouble when one of their ghost videos hits Reddit, but then they also find so many inventive ways to use that old redirection gag. Like in a scene where Kristen Wiig’s Erin is trying to convince the mayor (Andy Garcia) that ghosts are invading the city and there’s a giant rumble outside, only it’s just a garbage truck. The movie is full of those kinds of redirection-based gags.
— Unlike the original where the heart of the movie is found somewhere amidst Venkman’s creepy stalker-ish obsession with Sigourney Weaver’s Dana, this new one scraps any romantic subplot in favor of friendship. The heart of this movie is firmly rooted in the relationship between Wiig’s Erin and McCarthy’s Abby, and so in that regard the new film has a stronger emotional resonance than its predecessor.
— Kate McKinnon is without a doubt the film’s all-star. Her Holtzmann is so eccentric and such an oddball, I don’t even know if McKinnon fully grasps what Holtzmann’s all about. She just goes for it. Even when Holtzmann doesn’t have any dialogue, McKinnon is in the background working for that smile, that laugh, either with a facial expression or a body twitch. You’ll probably have to watch the movie multiple times to catch all of Holtzmann’s idiosyncrasies tucked into a wildly amusing star-making performance from McKinnon.
— Chris Hemsworth is terrific as the Ghostbusters secretary Kevin, perhaps destined to become the most memorable “movie Kevin” since Kevin McCallister in Home Alone. They essentially reverse the stereotypical dumb, but super sexy secretary with Hemsworth rocking this amusing sort of sophisticated moron vibe. He’s almost cocky, but not, and Hemsworth does such a great, subtle job, with many jokes coming at his expense.
— Ghostbusters: Answer the Call is quietly the new name of this film now, as they kind of altered the title to differentiate it more from the original but really didn’t tell anyone they did it (think Edge of Tomorrow: Live Die Repeat). And while it may seem tacked-on and a bit of a cop out, the title becomes so much funnier once you’ve seen the film, in part because of a running gag involving the phone not being answered.
— The villain played by Neil Casey has his strengths and weaknesses, but the general concept of him — how he’s just as nerdy about the supernatural as the Ghostbusters foursome, except he’s decided to use his knowledge to exact revenge upon a world that’s forever bullied him — is pretty great and inventive. He’s also an odd one who evolves throughout the film, and though their final confrontation gets super special effects-y and a tad over the top, he might be the strongest, most well-rounded villain we’ve seen yet in a Ghostbusters film.
The worst stuff
— While one or two of the cameos from the original Ghostbusters cast are amusing, they weren’t needed and they sort of jolt you out of the film in places. Not going to ruin any of them here, though make sure you stay till the end of the credits because not only is there a major cameo in the credits, but also a stinger at the end fans of the original will want to stick around to see.
— Not crazy about the updated theme song, and when it’s used in the movie I kept wishing for the original version to be used instead. Embrace those ’80s roots!
— The film takes place in New York City, but it was primarily shot in Boston. If you’re from New York or familiar with the city, it’s pretty easy to notice and doesn’t feel as authentic to New York as the original does.
— Kudos to Feig for trying to work the Ghostbusters logo creation into the film, including a very funny scene where the ladies turn to Kevin for his logo concepts, but the way they get the final version feels pretty forced and eye-roll inducing.
— As is the case way too often these days, unfortunately a lot of the film’s funniest moments are included in the trailers, though they do get funnier once you see everything built in around them.
Look, that first Ghostbusters is a classic, and it will forever be a classic. This new one, while just as strong with its cast, story and humor, may never match its predecessor in terms of how much it’s beloved by movie fans around the world. That’s just a fact.
We have a different relationship with movies now than we did back in the ’80s, and much of our desire to remake and reboot those movies from 30 years ago comes from us wanting to tap back into what made that period in cinematic history so special and memorable.
The new Ghostbusters is a special film, in part because it expertly extracts the essence of what was so fun and goofy about the original, but also because it celebrates female-driven humor in a sci-fi/supernatural movie, which is a rarity. We never see films like this today, just like we never saw films like Ghostbusters when it arrived on the scene in 1984.
Both films are unique to their respective era, and both films will forever be worth celebrating.
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