Ghostbusters (2016) - Review Thread

Thoughts on Leslie Jones? Token black character or what?

I see. It could be worse, I guess? Thanks.

Let me ask you this Neverending, it would be interesting to get your take.

I've read a lot of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and the conclusion I've come to is that there's absolutely no consistency or consensus. Zero. I think that's because what I always knew would happen ended up happening, people made up their minds about the movie weeks ago and it showed in their reviews. If you read the reviews you'll see a ton of conflicting ideas; Kate McKinnon stole the show, Kate McKinnon was terrible. The visual effects were great, the visual effects were cheap. The actresses had great chemistry, the actresses had no chemistry. The movie was hilarious, the movie was the worst. So what do you think, has the bias come across too much in the reviews?  Which side should claim victory?

Also, the guy who played the villain Rowan is comedian Neil Casey. He's a popular improv comedian at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater here in LA and has done a lot of TV writing for shows like Saturday Night Live. I've watched him perform several times and he's one of the funniest people I've ever seen in my life. He is insanely, almost criminally funny. If he's wasted here like you say he is that would be a huge disappointment.

The movie was written by another Upright Citizens Brigade alum named Katie Dippold who also is a solid improv comedian. She wrote for Parks and Rec which I can't vouch for because I haven't seen it but she also wrote The Heat which is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. For the sake of those in the Ghostbusters audience lets hope it's closer to Parks and Rec.

Interesting, interesting indeed.

I'm going to be honest, your review is literally the only one I'm trusting in any way and I'm not saying that to make you feel good, I'm saying it because I think you're being honest which you can't say about Richard Roeper or anyone writing for Jezebel. I probably won't watch it in theaters but I'll give it a watch when it's on HBO. I'll try to remain as unbiased as a guy can be considering how I don't like anything else Paul Feig has done. Ah well.

This movie was headed towards a bomb. But instead getting critical praise and on top of that, it also seems to be getting great word of mouth.

I will definitely be checking this movie out this month.

I've been meaning to watch Spy for some time. Like I said in another thread, I don't like Melissa McCarthy, I don't like Paul Feig and there's 1000 other movies I would rather watch but I might give it a go just to keep up with conversation.

Went in expecting the worst. Came out loving it. Yeah there's issues but it clicks so well you forgive it. Holtzmann might be my favorite Ghostbuster, period.

Ghostbusters: Best to Worst

Bill Murray
Dan Aykroyd
Kristen Wiig
Harold Ramis
Kate McKinnon
Ernie Hudson
Melissa McCarthy
Leslie Jones

And here...we...go.

To quote one of the lines near the end of the film: "Well, that wasn't terrible. That wasn't terrible at all." Overall, it's...okay. Uneven, but okay. Not all of the jokes stick the landing, but the ones that do did get some genuine laughs from me. All four leads held their own and had solid chemistry, but I thought Kate McKinnon needed to tone it down.  McKinnon had her moments to be fair, but the problem with her was that she was always on and never just played it straight. She started to feel more like a cartoon character than a person. Leslie Jones, to me, felt the most balanced. Wiig and McCarthy were refreshingly restrained, sure, but they were also kind of dull a lot of the time. Leslie Jones might have been my favorite of the group.  Don't let the trailers fool you; even though she does have those loudmouth moments here and there, she's more than just the token black character.  Jones felt like the most balanced character of the group.  But honestly? I think Chris Hemsworth might've stolen the movie.  His character is dumber than three bags of rocks and is perhaps overdone a bit too much, but he still consistently got the biggest laughs from me.  In terms of the cameos, Ernie Hudson's was easily the best, let's just leave it at that.

Paul Feig has yet to deliver a true laugh riot of a movie for me, and I think seeing Spy and this movie so close together has finally made obvious to me what my biggest problem with him is: the guy is just too in love with improvising.  He overindulges in letting his actors go off on tangents and do all these line-o-ramas and he keeps them in to the detriment of the flow of the film.  There were quite a few scenes in this movie that could've greatly benefitted from earlier cuts so we can just move onto the next scene.  Often, these scenes start off pretty decently funny, but the jokes are just run into the ground somewhat because of Feig's refusal to yell "Cut!"  To be clear, this movie DID actually get a good number of laughs out of me, but tighter editing really could've helped it out.  He also needs to work on just coming up with better jokes, period.  The movie clocks in at close to two hours when it should've been an hour and forty or thereabouts.

In terms of the action, like in Spy, it was decent.  The scenes meant to be creepy/scary aren't really because the movie relies more on its comedic overtones, but some of the actual Ghostbusting scenes aren't bad.  Actually, the concert scene that looked awkward in the trailers plays much better in the movie and might be one of my favorite scenes overall.  The climax does go a little too big, but again, Feig proves himself a decent action director so it's kind of fun.  But at the same time, it did have a bit too much of a "Marvel's Ghostbusters" feel to it, what with the city as a battleground trope used yet again.

Ghostbusters may be an uneven movie, but it's far from the trainwreck everyone wants it to be.  I'd say it's nothing more than a rental, and a movie that you'll largely forget about not long after you've seen it.  It's "meh," but Feig and co. unfortunately needed to do better than just "meh."

**1/2 /****

Chris Hemsworth needs a better agent. This guy is amazing and only gets starring roles in terrible movies.

The fuck you smoking?