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| Courtesy of Sony |
If
you haven’t heard about the insane backlash to Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters reboot
(Reimagining? Reinterpretation? I can’t keep track of all these marketing
buzzwords…) then I envy you. A tiny, yet extremely vocal group of geeks hasn’t
stopping whining about a new version of the 1984 comedy classic being sacrilegious
and “ruining their childhoods.”
If
I roll my eyes any harder they’re going to fall right out of my head. First, Ghostbusters
II proved the original creative team wasn’t above reproach almost 30 years ago.
Second, I didn’t hear nearly as much vitriol when Hollywood cranked out endless
reboots of comic book properties (Spider-Man) and old action movies (Total
Recall, Point Break).
Honestly,
I think a bunch of immature man-babies got mad because a grown-up took the “No
Girls Allowed” sign off their clubhouse door. Because what director and
co-writer Feig (who penned the screenplay with Kate Dippold) does best is make incisive,
hilarious comedies with insanely talented women.
Once
again, he’s put those skills to use here. The new Ghostbusters is far better –
funny and scary in equal measure – than I could’ve hoped for. It might not
reach the heights of the original (let’s be honest, no reboot was ever going
to) but it does its own thing in a fun, entertaining way. In one of worst
summer movie seasons in recent memory, that’s about all you can ask for.
Most
importantly, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and the incredible Kate
McKinnon (seriously, this role should launch her into superstardom) make a
terrific team. Throw in a staggeringly funny performance from Chris Hemsworth and
a host of memorable cameos, and you’ve got an ensemble that keeps the movie compelling
despite its occasional weak spots.
The
premise is fairly simple: Erin Gilbert (Wiig) is a brilliant physics professor who
is close to getting tenure at a prestigious university. However, her position
is threatened after a book she wrote with a former colleague about the
supernatural resurfaces on Amazon. With her job on the line, she tracks down
Abby Yates (McCarthy) and begs her to take down the book.
She
also meets Yates’ new partner, the gloriously weird Jillian Holtzmann
(McKinnon, who would be a shoo-in for a Best Supporting Actress nomination if
the Oscars respected comedy). A short time later, the women encounter a number
of ghosts and learn a nefarious plot is underway to shatter the barrier between
our world and the spirit realm.
Fortunately,
they cross paths with Patty Tolan (Jones), a transit worker who moonlights as a
historian. With her help, the new Ghostbusters are able to figure out which New
York City landmarks attract the most spirits. Not as useful is Kevin (Hemsworth),
the hunky guy that Erin hires as their secretary even though he’s bafflingly
stupid.
If
there’s one thing I’ve learned about Feig’s movies, it’s that they’re
impossible to sell in a standard trailer. His previous films – Bridesmaids, The
Heat and Spy – were all terrific, but they had stunningly bad marketing. Now
that I’ve seen his version of Ghostbusters, I can attest that it suffered the
same fate. As far as I can tell, that’s because his style of humor is
character-based, which is hard to sell in a two-minute ad. The punchlines are
only funny if you hear them in context, as opposed to isolated and backed with
a poppy score.
I
knew I was in great hands from the opening scene, as a tour guide played by
Zach Woods (from The Office and Silicon Valley) leads visitors through a
haunted mansion while throwing out hilariously random facts about the previous
owners. After everyone leaves, he encounters a truly frightening supernatural
entity that shows just how far special effects have advanced since the original
Ghostbusters, as well as how adept Feig is at handling them. (I rarely
recommend spending extra money on 3D, but I was impressed at its use here.)
The
movie also proves that Feig understands scares are just as important as laughs.
Granted, no one’s going to mistake this for a flat-out horror movie, but the filmmaker
understands the stakes aren’t real if the audience doesn’t believe the ghosts
pose a genuine threat to people. It helps that he stages the action sequences
with real excitement. The climactic set piece, though it stifles the comedy for
a bit, genuinely got my adrenaline pumping. One moment in particular (which I
wouldn’t dream of spoiling) caused the crowd in my screening to burst into
applause.
But
the real reason Ghostbusters is worth seeing is for the performances.
McKinnon, Hemsworth and Jones are going to receive most of the accolades (as well
they should, since they caused me to laugh so hard I stopped breathing), but I’d
be remiss if I didn’t highlight the equally strong, but less showy work from McCarthy
and Wiig.
I’ve
always preferred McCarthy’s “wide-eyed believer” characters over the uncouth
slobs that made her famous, so her performance here worked like gangbusters for
me. I’m also starting to suspect that Wiig will get overlooked because she’s
such a gifted straight woman. In the opening scene, there’s a moment when someone
questions Erin about her past and Wiig makes her eye twitch almost imperceptibly;
it’s so good that I grinned like an idiot for the next few minutes. She’s so
good that it seems effortless.
Granted,
the humor dissipates a bit once the plot kicks into gear in the third act and
there’s a bit too much winking fan service (sadly, it’s thrown in for whiny
fanboys who won’t appreciate it anyway), but those negatives aren’t enough to
outweigh the tremendous positives of the hilarious cast. I hope this new Ghostbusters cleans up at the box office so I can see more adventures with these characters.
The scene at the end of the closing credits undoubtedly suggests there are more
stories to tell.
Ghostbusters is rated PG-13 for supernatural action and some crude humor.
Grade:
B+
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