by Frank Calvillo
Recently, Indiewire’s Deputy Editor and Chief Film Critic Eric Kohn tweeted a poll where he asked which film would his followers prefer to see in another language if given the choice between Independence Day: Resurgence and Now You See Me 2, with the former winning by a considerable margin. While I can see multiple reasons for voting for both films, neither one has as strong a case as Paul Feig’s Ghostbusters, a film with visuals so captivating and wonderfully surreal, yet saddled with a script that manages to be both stunningly unfunny and appallingly tragic.
With a plot that’s shamelessly similar to the original film, a trio of academics (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon) team up to create an organization committed to finding, trapping and studying paranormal activity around New York City. Aided by a fourth recruit (Leslie Jones) and a dim-witted male secretary (Chris Hemsworth), the media-dubbed Ghostbusters set out to stop the acts of a disturbed hotel bellboy (Neil Casey) from creating a vortex which will unleash the world of the supernatural onto New York City.
If this film fails for any reason whatsoever, it should be because of the brand of comedy with which it chose to present its characters and premise. Feig is not a hack director by any means. But it’s clear that the director only has a limited number of tricks up his sleeve. In short, Feig can only do Feig. This is more than proven to be the case by the kind of recycled humor he insists on using multiple times here. Case in point, the issue of McCarthy constantly being frustrated when her Chinese food arrives late and is less than what she expected. It’s a definite (and at one point even potent) form of humor, which could easily been a scene from any of the director’s previous efforts. While such laughs would have been at home in The Heat or Bridesmaids, it’s a kind of humor that is far from fresh and feels embarrassingly out of place in a supernatural comedy. I highly doubt that anyone buying a ticket to Ghostbusters has ANY desire to watch Wiig and McCarthy arguing over the different theories behind the famous “cat’s outta the bag” phrase.
People intent on seeing Ghostbusters will instead have to make do with an expensive and impressive-looking version of an improv class which also doubles as an extended SNL skit. Original cast cameos and countless moments of nostalgia (including a few too many remixes of the classic Ray Parker, Jr. theme song) all feel cheap and forced, while the kind of editing which clearly screams “test screening” does nothing to help the dire proceedings. In the end, there is no discernible story, nor does anybody care that the film actually lacks one since there are too many tired jokes still left to revisit.
While the comedy achieves new levels of flatness, with one in every five jokes garnering a small handful of laughs from the audience, the visuals in Ghostbusters actually deliver and are some of the most impressive of the year. Each of the ghosts showcased throughout the film are injected with a surreal beauty that’s impossible to deny, but also come with a frightening aura that evokes the right kind of unease. The impressive effects truly come alive in the delightfully overblown finale which sees a Thanksgiving Day-like parade full of macabre balloons come to life. What’s more, the sequences in which the Ghostbusters and other humans encounter the ghosts are skillfully done, managing to capture echoes of what made the original films as fun as they still are.
Half the reason the original films worked as well as they did is because the actors were allowed to add dimension to their fleshy characters, making Venkman a ladies’ man and Stanz a neurotic, thus showcasing other sides of the talented cast. Here, the four leads are given no characters to actually play. As a result, the foursome are forced to just play themselves, rehashing their own trademark schtick which audiences have become accustomed to over the years. Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon, and Jones are four of the most gifted and likable comedic actresses working today, whose abilities know very few bounds. Each actress has more than proven her versatility and unique comic voice during her respective time in the spotlight. Why then does Feig not want to use such a great platform to further showcase what else they can do?
As for the guys, Casey was the only cast member blessed with anything close to resembling a character, and he is able to turn his handful of short scenes into a mix of genuine menace and dark humor. Hemsworth meanwhile proves himself to be the biggest casualty of the cast, with Feig directing him as if he’s in a remake of Airplane. In his first scene, Hemsworth’s character actually states that he has removed the lenses from his glasses because he couldn’t take the fact that they kept getting dirty. Can any human being be that nonsensical? Furthermore, how can a group of clearly intelligent women actually consider him a worthy employee?! Between this and Jason Statham’s atrocious turn in Spy, Feig’s habit of taking male action stars and showing how unfunny they can be is getting out of hand.
It’s been impossible to ignore the endless onslaught of negative reaction to four women being cast as the leads in a re-working of Ghostbusters. The move was probably one of the most memorable and polarizing casting decisions in film history, with many devoted and vocal fans up in arms. Personally, I had no problem with these four talented women being cast in the film. But then again I never thought the film should have been made in the first place. My wariness of a new Ghostbusters was just as strong when the idea of Seth Rogen leading a new generation of Ghostbusters was being tossed around a few years ago.
For me, the only other Ghostbusters film which should have been made was the one based on the script that original cast member Dan Aykroyd wrote back in the ’90s. For the longest time I felt a fear that whatever hands the series fell into would diminish the brilliant legacy of what original director Ivan Reitman and company had created. Thankfully Feig’s attempt to create a new franchise has proven to be the equivalent of an unauthorized Star Trek fan film, clearly showing that I needn’t ever have worried.
