Review: Ghostbusters

Physics professor Kristen Wiig is embarrassed when a guy comes to her with a supposedly haunted building, armed with a copy of a book on the paranormal that she co-authored with former colleague Melissa McCarthy. She goes to find McCarthy, and somehow it ends up with the duo and McCarthy’s colleague Kate McKinnon investigating the supposed paranormal activity. They find something freaky, word gets out about it and they are both fired from their respective gigs. What to do? Set up their own ghost hunting business of course (with equipment designed by McCarthy and McKinnon), eventually adding subway ticket dispenser Leslie Jones to their crew, having already alerted them to some freaky paranormal shit going on in the tunnels. Eventually they garner media hype, and scorn from both a sceptic (Bill Murray) and the cranky Mayor (Andy Garcia). And that’s when shit really gets started and New York is gonna need them. Chris Hemsworth plays the girls’ hunky but stupid receptionist, and Cecily Strong plays the Mayor’s assistant.

In principle I have no objections whatsoever to an all-female “Ghostbusters”. In fact, if viewed as simply a remake, I have only one requirement for it: Be a good/great film in order to justify remaking something that already worked the first damn time. This 2016 film from director Paul Feig (the overrated “Bridesmaids” and also “The Heat”, both co-starring Melissa McCarthy) and co-writer Katie Dippold (“The Heat”) simply isn’t good, and gets the casting wrong in at least two of its leads in my not remotely humble opinion. Sorry, but for the most part this one’s not funny, and since the original is in my view one of the greatest comedies of all-time (and one of the greatest films of all-time in any genre), it comes up awfully short. Truth be told, I’m not even sure the film is trying to be all that funny, anyway. It’s certainly not as comedically-oriented as the original, but the problem is the plot isn’t interesting enough to cover for the lack of laughs. It’s all very “Men in Black”, and “Men in Black” wasn’t the slightest bit funny, either.

If you’re a fan of all four ladies and don’t have a connection to the original, you’ll probably get something out of this film. I’m not sure how big of a niche that is, however and can only report my own feelings which turned seriously underwhelmed the moment Melissa McCarthy (the one non-“SNL” member of the quartet) turned up to do her annoyingly goofy and gassy schtick. A lot of people love Melissa McCarthy (whose TV series “Mike and Molly” is a rip-off of the later seasons of “The King of Queens”), but I see her as an even less funny Chris Farley, who was a poor man’s John Candy. Farley, even in his best comedic creation (His “SNL” character Matt Foley, motivational speaker) always seemed to be trying way too hard for a laugh, going way too far with bombastic shouting and annoying mugging. He always seemed a tad desperate, and McCarthy (who seems incredibly nice in interviews) even more so. Like the even less talented Rebel Wilson, I find her schtick tiresome after about a couple of minutes, and that holds true here. I have to confess I find Kristen Wiig almost as irritating, as she too is very schtick-y, and on her stint on “SNL” very often played characters whose sole comedic element was strangeness…and it was rarely if ever funny (The sketch with chick with the tiny doll hands for instance is just peculiar to me). Here though, she’s playing the straight woman to an extent, and actually for once the problem with her is that she simply seems invisible. In a film where she appears in practically every scene, I barely noticed her. So it’s hard for a “Ghostbusters” film to work, male or female-centric when two of the four title characters are a complete bust.

Thankfully, the other two (both “SNL” cast members as well) actually hold up their end of things, otherwise this film might’ve been every bit as bad as many others insisted it was, on release. Look, no one’s gonna say that Leslie Jones (who on “SNL”, forever earned my respect for her brilliant takedown of the disgusting trolls who attacked her over her role in this) is a versatile comedian. She’s basically the female Tracy Morgan, and although she’s not as funny, she certainly has her moments, and her very loud and not overly bright schtick is well-suited to this. Here she gets to be loud and act scared in what is pretty much a female version of the Ernie Hudson role from the original (And before you call me racist, take note of who turns up to play her uncle). She’s not especially funny in this (and may be a little too Stepin Fetchit/Mantan Moreland-esque for some sensibilities), but no one is. I’m not the biggest fan of Kate McKinnon’s work on “SNL”, although some of her impressions are at least fun (Her Jane Lynch in particular is spot-on. Her Justin Bieber is awful, though). This role tends to play to her other, goofier side which frankly I’ve never been a fan of. However in this instance her all-round weirdness is kinda interesting and she’s easily the most likeable of the four. Her reacting to everything from a wonky angle is actually the funniest thing about the film. This chick she’s playing just doesn’t seem…normal. I also guarantee that if she isn’t already, she’ll be every young woman’s favourite character. Despite the goofiness, it’s the damndest thing…McKinnon is also actually cool. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, at any rate and she looks to be having more fun than anyone. Having said that, as fun as they are in support of the two main ‘Ghostbusters’, neither McKinnon nor Jones would suffice if they were tasked with being the two main characters with these characters/performances. It’d be way too much to bear, so the fact that they play third and fourth banana here is crucial (And largely explains why McCarthy is a bust in her larger role).

One of the biggest misses in the film is the overrated participation by Chris Hemsworth, who just hasn’t got a comedic bone in his body. I’m glad he gets to keep his Australian accent since he’s terrible at non-Australian accents most of the time, but otherwise I don’t think the change to a male receptionist was necessary. Also, change the character to female and tell me there wouldn’t be an outrage over the character. If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Since Cecily Strong (probably one of my favourite current “SNL” members. Her ‘drunk girl’ character on that show is brilliant) is given a nothing role standing next to Andy Garcia, why not cast her in the receptionist role? It’s the one role you do want someone a little goofy and schtick-y. Instead I think Hemsworth’s very casting was meant to be the joke, and it’s not even a joke, let alone funny.

As for the rest, Andy Garcia is wasted a witless role, Michael K. Williams is similarly far too talented to be playing such a nothing role, though Charles Dance was a nice surprise early on in a bit of good casting as Wiig’s snooty employer. As for the requisite cameos from the surviving original cast members (Harold Ramis is dead, but Rick Moranis isn’t here either. I know he only does voice work now but why not a voice cameo?), Sigourney Weaver’s is the only genuinely successful one, and it’s right at the end. Dan Aykroyd serves as EP here, yet gives himself a useless cameo, Ernie Hudson’s may be the least funny of all. Bill Murray probably gets the most screen time of the lot, but he’s useless too. Annie Potts cameo is somewhat amusing, and she somehow hasn’t aged much since 1984. Amazing. Meanwhile, the Ozzy Osbourne cameo and heavy metal gag would’ve been funny…in 1986. On the spectral cameo front, Stay Puft is thoroughly disappointing, but Slimer is OK I guess. The best thing in the entire film are the visuals, but that’s the last thing you should care about in a film like this. The CGI is good, but a “Ghostbusters” film doesn’t get extra points for a pre-requisite. As for the music, it’s a mixed bag. The film gets off to the right start with the infamous (and allegedly plagiaristic) Ray Parker Jr. title song. It’s still as catchy and cool as ever. Unfortunately, we later get a horrendous modern version of the song that sounds like an unholy mixture of about 10 genres. Then again, it’s still better than the Run DMC shit from “Ghostbusters II”.

Neither as bad as reported by many, nor good enough to recommend, this one might best be left to Melissa McCarthy fans. Male or female, the film’s just not good enough or funny enough. For me, the underrated “Pixels” stands as the far superior (if unofficial) “Ghostbusters” remake. Kate McKinnon has something, though and the film occasionally amuses when she and/or Leslie Jones are on screen. Otherwise this just isn’t worth it given they got it 100% right the first time around.   

Rating: C