Two colossal brands are at play here: the first being New York City's most popular ghost-catching, proton-pack-toting squad, called the Ghostbusters, and the second being Hollywood's first lady of comedy that is Melissa McCarthy. Stew the two together and it becomes the don't-miss comedy of the summer, packed with familiarly satisfying ectoplasmic gags and villains that look like cartoon marshmallows.
Eighties geeks may only see a ghost of the glory of the old franchise, but if you're a non-fan who isn't obsessed with upholding a cultural legend, this rebooted Ghostbusters checks all the boxes you want checked. There's just enough glossy lasers, goofiness and butt-kicking, plus a few genuine moments of real-world problems that really strike a chord. Where else can the pains of self-doubt, getting branded as liars and jilting your pal be best explored, if not in a movie where main characters are trying to prove the existence of spooks in modern society?
In this reboot, the new, all-female team brings along with it so much fun it doesn't even need green slime to make the time slide by. When scientist Erin (Kristen Wiig) gets the boot from her teaching job at an Ivy League university after her old ghost-hunting book surfaces online, she's forced to reunite with her co-author friend Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and Abby's equally mad engineer partner Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). Following an expected panoply of neon-lit spirits that terrorise the trio with their green goo, the three set up a service to professionally eliminate any paranormal pests from their new office on top of a Chinese restaurant -- the sketchy one that tends to pass off dishwater for soup. Subway worker Patty (Leslie Jones), who had a run-in with ghosts herself, joins the team with the offer of her uncle's hearse-turned-ghostbusting Cadillac, as does the film's token hot boy, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) -- playing a newly-hired secretary who apparently isn't very smart.
All four comediennes get an equal share of the spotlight, although Kate McKinnon does shine as the kookiest (and consequently, most hilarious) of them all. Unexpectedly, this leaves the element of humanity to McCarthy, who maintains the most positivity and logic you could possibly hope to wring out of this silly-funny madcap whizzing with glowing banshees and a sack-like supreme baddy. Expect laughs, albeit those coming from the same wavelength of Thai comedies -- where you hit the toady's head with a tray.
It's not the most sophisticated of jokes, and this brand of McCarthy humour was much more intelligent in her last outing, Spy. Then again, we're working with a goofy cartoon ghost with a red bow tie that's more likely to incite awwws than AAAAAAAAHs here, so most of the theatre already knows where this is heading. Is it substance-less like the ghosts that populate the movie? Yes. Predictable? Yes. But please: some of us just want to laugh.
Ghostbusters
Starring Melissa McCarthy,
Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones.
Directed by Paul Feig.
