Review: ‘Ghostbusters’ Overcomes Minor Flaws With A Fantastic Cast

Title: Ghostbusters
Director: Paul Feig
Summary: Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly threat.

I’ve spent the better part of the last week trying to come up with a more hated reboot of a movie and I haven’t been able to come up with one. As someone who enjoyed the original Ghostbusters and thought the sequel was a huge let down, I didn’t understand the hate behind this movie. As I said in a previous editorial, I believe that the yelling at each other over social media isn’t helping anyone, and the review bombing that happened on IMDB before the movie even came out was irritating. The original Ghostbusters has not gone away and this one deserves a chance to be judged based on whether or not it’s a good movie, not whether you think pop culture vandalism has occurred.

Ghostbusters is not a perfect movie, but thanks to a great cast and some amazing jokes the flaws are minor and easily overlooked.


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One of the things that I love about some movies is a good team dynamic. I can look over a lot of flaws if there is a good back and forth between the various characters. Ghostbusters is a movie that thrives on good character dynamic. The four various characters, Abby (Melissa McCarney), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), Patty (Leslie Jones) and Erin (Kristen Wiig) all bounce off of each other very well. The history between Abby and Erin feels very real, but the instant connection that Patty develops between the rest of the girls also feels genuine. There was concern that Patty would come across as a little racist since she is the only non scientist of the group, but the character becomes the historian of the group and even saves the day in the end.

I’ve decided that Director Paul Feig is someone whose movies do not come across well in the trailers. I cannot think of a single movie of his that has had good trailers. This is something that they need to figure out in the future because the bad marketing has not helped this movie at all. If I didn’t know anything about the director or his previous works I would not be excited for this movie based on the trailers alone. The jokes are more situational and character based which don’t work well in two second sound bytes, but in the movie proper they are great. They don’t all work, and there are a few moments where a joke or two doesn’t land, but I laughed more than I didn’t. Holtzmann was the one that made me laugh the most and her antics were a highlight of the movie for me. Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) is being picked apart by some for being a one note idiot pretty boy, apparently missing that that is the joke.

As I said the movie is not perfect, and the thing that a lot of people have mentioned that doesn’t work is the climax and finale. The final villain, Rowan (Neil Casey), is not that threatening when all is said and done. The designs of the ghosts for the finale sometimes don’t look that great. There is also a strange sense that no one is really in much danger, despite the fact that the stakes are very high. There is a moment before the big finale that felt much more dangerous than anything that happened with the ghosts. I enjoyed the cameos from the cast members from the old movies but they don’t do much and I can see how some of them might irritate people.

Ghostbusters is a comedy worthy of your time and your money, if nothing else to see four amazing comedians bounce off of each other. There are a few things that don’t work but I was able to overlook all of them and walked away from the movie happy. The naysayers have hated this from day one but it’s worth your time to go and see it and form your own opinion.

Kaitlyn Booth
Kaitlyn Boothhttp://wwww.kaitlynbooth.com
Kaitlyn Booth is a writer, film critic, comic lover, and soccer fan based in Salt Lake City. She has covered such events as the Sundance Film Festival, San Diego Comic Con, and New York Comic Con and been a special guest and panelist at Salt Lake Comic Con and FanX. She has a deep fondness for female superheroes and independent film.