The 430th film I have seen in theaters…
Who you gonna call?
Ghosts are appearing in New York City. Paranormal researchers Abby, Erin, Holtzmann, and Patty team up to defeat a plot to destroy the world!
Kristen Wiig is Erin. She shines as our, more or less, lead character. Wiig is predictably awesome.
Melissa McCarthy is Abby. Sometimes she can be very funny, and sometimes absolutely annoying. She pulls out the funny for this one. The Won Ton gag works well.
Kate McKinnon is released onto the world as Jillian Holtzmann, my personal favorite of the new cast. Her random nonsense and lesbianic tendencies make the movie.
Leslie Jones is wonderful as Patty. You either like her shtick or hate it. if you like it, you will like her performance. If you don’t, you will hate it. I like it.
Arguably the funniest character in the movie is Kevin, their air-brained secretary. He steals EVERY scene he appears in.
Neil Casey appears as janitor Rowan, who plots to destroy the world and rule as some sort of Ghost king. The nerds will bring the world down, its true.
Andy Garcia, a personal favorite actor of mine, is the Mayor of NY. I liked the contrast of this mayor to the original. Good choice. Michael K Williams plays FBI agent Hawkins. He is kinda wasted here.
Charles Dance, Tywin Lannister himself, appears as the Dean of the college. Always awesome.
The incomparable Ed Begley Jr plays the curator of a historic home at the start of the film. His intro scene in front of the haunted house was the first joke that made me laugh loudly. My sort of humor.
And of course, Slimer!
The original Ghostbusters was legendary. It was a once in a lifetime hit (which Bill Murray does more than once in a lifetime, but I digress). There was no way to match a classic. This one does something impressive though, it honors the original while still being its own thing. The very concept of the Ghostbusters is different this time around. They are not the plumber types who make house calls to catch ghosts. The Government is not trying to stop them for EPA violations. They are scientists who are carrying out their research, never really pursuing money. The government knows about the ghosts and is trying to keep it secret, but is clandestinely supporting their actions, even funding them by the end of the movie. As I said, it was its own thing.
Despite that, the original cast are given spotlights in several cameos. The only one not seen is Rick Moranis who is happily retired. Even the late Harold Ramis appears as a bronze bust in one scene. The best cameo, of course, goes to Bill Murray as a paranormal debunker. The one person who I think comes out the best is Ernie Hudson as the Uncle that Patty mentions throughout the film.
This movie stands on the strength of it’s cast- 3 SNL cast members that work together well with McCarthy who is one of SNL’s most dependable celebrity hosts. They all play to their strengths which makes the movie terrific. The Critics have decided that this is a movie that must be bashed because the trailers were terrible. They can all go fuck themselves. Not everything needs to be Citizen Kane. This is a fun movie, that made me laugh a lot. That is what Ghostbusters should be. The final post credits scene leaves a hint that Zuul is coming. I hope that this is the case. These Ghostbusters deserve another film.
The Skinny from the Fatty 