Ghostbusters Review: Funny Women For The Win

Director: Paul Feig 

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey

Running Time: 1 hour 57 mins 

Release Date: 11th July 2016 

Fun Fact 1: You can dislike Ghostbusters without being a misogynist. 

Fun Fact 2: You can like Ghostbusters without being paid off by Sony. 

Phew, so glad we’ve got that out of the way. That’s right, Paul Feig‘s highly anticipated/feared GHOSTBUSTERS hit theaters this week and has since riled up movie goers across the globe, split opinions and revved up debates everywhere. With the original eighties movie remaining a firm childhood favorite, fans were left quaking in their boots when Feig announced he was rebooting the film with an- wait for it- all female cast! The end was nigh!

Except it wasn’t because, believe it or not, we survived! Yes, they finally made it through shooting without crumbling into a women mess of emotions and somehow, bless their cottons, got the film to the big screen. How very shocking.

With BRIDESMAIDS director Paul Feig helming the project and Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon making up the new ghost-busting team; GHOSTBUSTERS sees paranormal experts Abby and Eric team up with nuclear engineer Jillian and subway worker-come-bad-ass Patty to stamp down on the pesky ghosts of New York that threaten to tip the balance of peace in the great city. 

Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon are a dream team of comedy. Their chemistry feels genuine and mixes the right amount of solidarity with contrasting personalities to make the team feel broad and brilliant. All those still whinging “I just don’t find women funny” obviously didn’t watch the same movie as us because they all killed it.

There is such a variety of comedic talent within these four women that it’s near impossible not at least titter at some of McCarthy’s bravado, Wiig’s classic underplay of her jokes, Jones’ physical comedy and McKinnon’s brilliant delivery. 

McCarthy, in particular, tends to split audiences through and so when it was announced she’d lead the ghost-busting team it threw a lot of intrigued fans. One of the biggest criticism of McCarthy’s other work is that she often plays the same character over and again. Her roles in BRIDESMAIDS, TAMMY, THE HEAT and THE BOSS have been criticized for just being barely different variations of the same ‘larger women falling over’ character. 

While this kind of physical comedy isn’t for everyone, it’s not like we haven’t seen it before in the likes of actors such as Kevin James or Jack Black. Still, McCarthy dodges this pigeon hole she has or has not put herself in pretty well within Ghostbusters. She still embodies her recognizable comedic traits that her fans love but her take on Abby is far more grounded than her previous roles. 

Kate McKinnon is in a league of her own from the second she appeared on screen. With that blond quiff, yellow goggles and bad ass swagger, she kicks up the team a notch with her bewilderingly funny quirkiness. Her comedic delivery and general enigmatic presence feels genuine to her character and thankfully dodges the line of token quirky girl. 

This doesn’t mean that the comedy works completely throughout the entire narrative. Often it feels like you’re watching a straight up Paul Feig movie rather than Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters. It can often feel like gag after gag after gag, and that can feel a little relentless by the end of the film.

This applies particularly to Chris Hemsworth’s character. While he does a brilliant job at portraying the pretty-but-dumb Kevin, by the end of the film you just want more ghosts and a little less Kevin. This is an issue a lot of people have with most of Feig’s work and writing, he often goes one joke too far and it can jar the flow of the narrative, blurring the lines of genre just a little too much. 

The first half of the film is generally pretty strong, the narrative feels coherent and it looks like we were about to get some real conflict between Abby’s passion for the paranormal and Erin’s desperate need to be believed. However, the second half of the film dwindles and soon we’re introduced to the seriously lackluster villain of the movie. 

The main issue here is that even though there are a barrage of ghosts coming to take the women down, it feels like a last ditch attempt at cramming in as much spooky specters as possible in the final battle. There’s almost too much comedy and not enough one on one ghost action. 

The first few ghosts we were introduced to were really interesting and genuinely pretty disturbing (I’ll never look at a mannequin in the same way) but they were soon replaced with ghost pilgrims and comedy slimers. This is certainly going to appeal to a younger audience but for others, it feels like a comedic cop out. 

So this film really isn’t going to ruin your childhood and if you think it has then well, you kind of need to reevaluate your life choices. The thing is, guys, you do not have to like this film. It’s got its flaws and some of you are so passionate about the original film that it will never live up to it and that is totally fine.

What’s not fine about this whole Ghostbusters-gate is the complete disregard of the concept as soon as the all female cast were introduced. Nobody is saying that that’s the sole reason why people had an issue with the reboot, that would be completely ignorant of the vast number of opinions that surround this film.

However, it cannot be denied that there was a huge backlash of misogynistic rubbish that came with the film’s announcement and so it’s no wonder some of us went in with hopeful expectations, trusting the female talent and looking to have a good time and that’s exactly what this film is; a good time. It’s fun, kind of silly, slick and witty. Nothing more, nothing less. 

Are you going to come out gobsmacked at it’s comedic brilliance and visual splendor? Nah. You’re really not. However, you’ll laugh, feel the girl power and for some, you’ll give that little fist bump of pride for Feig and the girls. They ain’t afraid of no ghosts. 

Verdict

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