Cast: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, Andy Garcia
Director: Paul Feig
Genre: Comedy, supernatural
Duration: 116 minutes
Showing: Cinema Magic, Metroplex Mall Naalya, Century Cinemax Acacia Mall.
Proton packs, slime and the Ecto-1. All the things I hoped would be in this reboot of Ghostbusters. Feig did not disappoint on that account. After all, people seemed set on being disappointed by the movie even before it was released. Most of the backlash started after the cast was announced. I’m not touching that subject with a stick even. Back to the movie. Fans of the last two Ghostbusters movies, and the TV series were convinced they would not like it.
Personally, I have loved everything Feig has worked on, especially with McCarthy in the cast so much that I was really looking forward to it. I laughed so hard watching Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy that I couldn’t wait to see what he would do with an established comedy like Ghostbusters, especially since he co-wrote the script.
Wiig plays Erin, a professor at Columbia University. She fears for her reputation and job after discovering that a book on ghosts, that she co-wrote with Abby (McCarthy) has been published. Turns out that while Erin left their research behind after the book flopped, Abby went on with her work and is also the one who had the book published. Erin confronts Abby.
Abby in turn gets Erin to help her out with an investigation on ghost activity that involves that all familiar ghost slime. Things escalate from there and before you know it, they are a team of four, proton pack-carrying ghostbusters. Besides Erin and Abby, there is Jillian (Mckninnon), the quirky one with a gift for gadgets, and Patty (Jones), who knows New York in and out, and can keep an eye out for ghosts. Oh and then we have their dimwitted receptionist, Kevin (Hemsworth). The team also has to hold their own against the suspicious Rowan North (Casey).
The story alone is interesting enough to appeal to anyone. Franchise movies usually suffer in two ways. The first is telling the story with the assumption that everyone is a fan. The second is trying to get a new audience by giving us too much of the back story (see what happened with the new Tarzan?). Ghostbusters gives a fresh story with the right elements of the old.
Then we have the acting. There are movies you watch and think, “these guys must have had a lot of fun!” This is one of them. Also, shout out to seeing a very silly side to Hemsworth.