I Luvz Me Some GHOSTBUSTERS 2016
This is how you do a remake![1] Keep the core idea and story, keep the elements and tone people like, but feel free to go afield from that so long as you stay in the same ballpark. Ghostbusters (2016; directed by Paul Feig, written by Katie Dippold & Feig, based on the 1984 film directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis) does that perfectly, adapting and expanding upon the original by reinterpreting it for the 21st century and reflecting a female cast.[2]
The new all-femaleGhostbustersare not simply the original characters in drag: They are unique and interesting on their own account, their relationship is not that of three college chums + an employee but rather a series of overlapping relationships and histories that finally jells into a single compact team. Kristin Wilg as Erin Gilbert is former BFF with Melissa McCarthy’s Abby Yates; the friendship broke up over Gilbert’s desire to pursue “serious” science instead of paranormal investigations. Yates is now friends / co-researcher with Kate McKinnon’s Jillian Holtzmann, a hyperkinetic engineer whom my younger granddaughter describes as “the best because she's funny, she builds things, and she's flexible." And to this mix Leslie Jones as MTA employee Patty Tolan who first comes to the Ghostbusters as a client and pretty much invites herself into the club; her encyclopedic and photographic memory of New York history and geography make her a vital addition to the team and while her character may lack to formal education the others possess she is certainly their equal in the brains department.
Oh, yeah, these ladies are all smart. Very smart. That’s what makes this film so delightful: The female characters are characters who are female, not stereotypes being forced into an old story. They come across as fresh and original while still maintaining the flavor of the 1984 film.
In fact, the only real dummy in the film is their beefcake receptionist, Kevin (played by Chris Hemsworth) who is one of the stupidest yet most endearing characters ever in movies. He, too, plays a vital part in the construction of the film, albeit not the one you might expect.
The basic plot is still the same: Ghostbusters, after being drummed out of academia, start a business that nobody takes seriously until they finally catch a ghost; then as business booms the government tries to regulate them out of existence only to find itself hopeless outgunned by a massive supernatural invasions and forced to rely on the team to save the day.
The script construction is great, you get everything you want in a Ghostbusters movie only not in the way you expect it, including cameos galore featuring the original cast.
Highly recommended.
[1] Not a reboot, a remake. A reboot drastically alters something about the theme/tone/intent of the original Reboots done well are good, but too often they are just a new creative team pissing on material to mark it as their.
[2] There’s been a lot of hate directed at this film by MRAs suffering terminal butthurt from the fact the four main characters are female as opposed to the four male protagonists of the first film. Congratulations, guys; now you know how women feel when they see men starring in 88%.Ghostbusters ’16is aware of that animosity and comments on it directly more than once in the course of the film, and almost always to dismiss it as unimportant to Just Doing Their Jobs. Brava,Ghostbusters ’16!
