Is it possible to write anything resembling an objective critique of the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters? For one thing, it isn’t even sure what its name is, with the single-word title in an isolated credit towards the beginning, while the end credits declare its full title to be Ghostbusters: Answer the Call. Both titles are used in seemingly interchangeable ways on the case of the blu-ray disc.
I didn’t bother watching the film until seven years after it was released. The only reason I had not until then was a near total disinterest in anything related to the series aside from the first film. I only watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife to prepare to see Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and I only was seeing the latter because my wife and I were taking my Ghostbusters mega-fan brother-in-law to see it.
Those two more recent films seem to be part of a concerted effort to purge the 2016 film from the public consciousness. Admittedly, the film was a minor financial success in its original run, but the most enduring aspect of its legacy is how thoroughly it polarized audiences.
There was a curious amount of outrage from overwhelming male fans over this reboot, seemingly all of which concerned have four women as the leads. Then again, I was confused as to why the reboot took that particular tack. Simply doing a gender flip feels like a lazy attempt at reinvention, not to mention a tad patronizing. But then, if one doesn’t slavish the movie with praise, there are many people who get defensive, as if any criticism leveled towards it must be due to that gender-flip and, by extension of that, an attack on women in general.
So, back to my original point, how does one set aside the drama outside the film so that it may be scrutinized entirely on its own merits? Probably the first thing that helps me in this effort is that, aside from the 1984 original, I completely give rats ass about this property.
Now then, cutting directly to the chase: is it any good? My opinion is that only the original release is superior.
One way it is better than Ghostbusters II is it actually takes the story in fresh directions. And it is better than either of the subsequent sequels in that it isn’t burdened by the expectations of the massive glut of fan service which hobbled those films. Don’t even get me started on the two different animated series or the video games…
What I found odd about my enjoyment of this feature is I have seen three of the leads in other films before and never found them to be especially funny. Of those, I have found Kristen Wiig to fare best in other works because she has the most versatility. She’s wisely cast here as the straight-woman (and I’m not talking about sexuality here, thank you very much) to Melissa McCarthy and Kate McKinnon. The latter is given way too much latitude to literally bounce all over the place, though I still laughed long and hard at some of her character’s more audacious moments. There was a bit, however, where she dances to DeBarge’s “Rhythm Of The Night” which, if I’m being tactful, I can only say I endured.
Go figure, the film’s secret weapon is a Black woman, Leslie Jones, not unlike how the original’s actual best performance is delivered by its sole Black actor, Ernie Hudson. Admittedly, her character (like Hudson’s, honestly) is largely written to be not specific to any race. And yet, one of the biggest laughs this film got from me is when she tries stagediving at a heavy metal show and she hits the floor hard when the audience members part like the Red Sea. “I don’t know if that was a race thing or a lady thing, but I’m mad as hell right now.” Just one more line I loved from this character: when Jones is asked if she knows what something unusual she’s seen is called: “If I knew what it was called, I wouldn’t say it was a weird staticky thing.”
In fact, not only is the dialogue of that character largely not race-specific, the overwhelming majority of the lines of any character are not gender-specific. So, you know have a film whose main gimmick is the previously male leads are all now female, but those characters could have easily been performed by men after only a few edits (the script, that is, and not the men). The only things that came to mind that would be sacrificed are a couple of gross gags involving the female body, and I wouldn’t have missed those if they had been removed.
Even if the cast had been kept male, you could probably even keep Chris Hemsworth as their exceptionally dim-witted receptionist. Wiig seems to be the only one interested in him romantically (which leads to some pretty cute moments of her crushing on him, actually). So, if she had been male, then we could have had the first gay Ghostbuster and guess how well that would have gone over with the crowd that was outraged over the casting.
His character is more stupid than humanly possible while still being able to eat, dress himself and get around the city without assistance. The jokes concerning his stupidity are completely unbelievable, though often hilarious. My favorite moment was when he shows some proposed logos he has created for this enterprise. One is of a hot dog and, below it, a house. Hemsworth explains a ghost is holding the hot dog, because how else would the food be floating in the air? I smiled just writing that line in this piece.
There are two versions of the film on the disc I watched and so I opted for the longer cut. It is definitely too long, though I suspect much of what I enjoyed so much is only in this extended version. I also suspect the theatrical version would feel just as long, but I don’t intend to find out for certain. When I inevitably watch this again, it will be the extended cut I will be revisiting. It’s like how I will never bother seeing the original cut of Doctor Sleep.
One curious aspect of the bu-ray presentation I assume is true of both versions is some of the effects extend into the mattes above and below the widescreen image. This daft and pointless move took me out the film as immediately and thoroughly as any fourth-wall break, and it is a gimmick I hope to never see repeated.
In the end, the women of 2016’s Ghostbusters (or whatever you intend to call it) made a highly entertaining film, much more so than either of the two course-corrections that followed it. Alas, they also made a movie that has many of the worst traits of the series and the genre in general: it is too long, too loud with a finale battle that wears down the viewer to apathy. So, in one way, a weird kind of equality has been achieved, though one I don’t think she be necessarily celebrated. And yet, this much-maligned film manages to one-up many of its peers.
Dir: Paul Feig
Starring Kristen Wigg, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones
Watched on blu-ray