Ghostbusters Review

A Pale Imitation?

Ghostbusters

Director: Paul Feig;

Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Chris Hemsworth

This remake/ reboot of Ivan Reitman’s 1984 hit movie starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis has been vilified on line since it was first announced. People thought that the all-female cast was a mistake and that it was a pointless remake of a much-loved modern Hollywood classic. There are more than a few flaws in these criticisms: the original was a very enjoyable but pretty lightweight summer movie with some nice touches and a decent cast. It wasn’t a classic by any means. And if the female cast were chosen because they were notable in current movies, then surely that wouldn’t be a problem?

The problems with Ghostbusters are not that they recast it with a female cast although Kate McKinnon (who plays Jillian Holtzmann) is incredibly annoying throughout but the big question here is who is it for exactly? I think that in theory the idea of having women scientists doing what the male cast did in the 1984 is perfectly honourable. And it starts rather well: introducing us to the idea that New York is filled with ghosts and apparitions is rather well-handled and the introductory scene does make you smile. Melissa McCarthy plays scientist Abby Yates here. She happens to be the estranged writing partner of Erin Gilbert, buttoned-up fellow scientist portrayed by Kristin Wiig who is very likeable and if you enjoy Melissa McCarthy’s modern less subtle take on John Belushi, then audiences should be pleased.   However, Ghostbusters is a very schizophrenic film indeed. It is all well and good to appeal to young girls but are they going to find a scene that references Ghost, a film made in 1990, years before they were born, amusing or funny? Also, Leslie Jones, who plays the female version of Ernie Hudson’s character possesses a dumb naivety that is quite frankly pretty patronising.

So it isn’t the disaster that people were predicting and in fact, some of it is fairly entertaining. Young girls may enjoy some of the supernatural shenanigans, Chris Hemsworth as a dumb male secretary turns in a fun cameo and Bill Murray as debunker Martin Heiss looks like he is enjoying himself. But the bottom line is that Ghostbusters feels like a fairly pointless remake of a film that actually wasn’t that great in the first place. They have left things open for a sequel but I don’t really see why they should bother. It is a reflection of the lack of imagination on modern Hollywood’s part that one of the biggest films out this summer is a remake of a film over thirty years old. So no it’s not awful but it really has no reason to exist.

JOEL MEADOWS

Ghostbusters is out now in cinemas in the UK and US

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