Ghostbusters
Director: Paul Feig
Writer: Katie Dippold, Paul Feig
Remake of: Ghostbusters
Cast: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, Ed Begley Jr., Charles Dance, Andy Garcia, Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Kenneth Williams, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver
Seen on: 11.8.2016

Plot:
Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is trying to establish herself as a physicist when an old book of hers resurfaces. She wrote it many years ago together with Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) on the subject of the existence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. Erin is afraid that the book will threaten her career despite the fact that she left those ideas behind. When she goes to speak with Abby to ask her to keep the book under wraps, she finds her working with Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) to prove the existence of ghosts. When they are actually called in to examine a haunting, everything changes: Erin tags along and can see the ghost with her own eyes. So the three of them team up with Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) and found the Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters was a hugely enjoyable film that had me laughing pretty much all the way through – despite the fact that Feig’s humor is usually very much hit and miss for me. But with a cast that great, not much can go wrong.

For what felt like ages before the film actually came out, I got pretty much bombarded with images of Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann and her awesomeness, pumping up my expectations and at the same time my worry that the film couldn’t possibly fulfill all those expectations. But this was one of those rare instances where I got exactly what I hoped I would get: a film with four very different but equally great women who kick ghost ass in a hilarious way.

Not every joke worked for me, but most of them did. There were certainly many moments that have a shot at getting into my comedy hall of fame – be it Patty’s reaction to the room full of mannequins or Holtzmann’s “the hat is too much” moment or Kevin’s “fish tanks are like submarines for fish” or… the film simply delivers a good bit every few seconds and it’s great.

But the film would be nothing without its cast. Of course, it would have been nice if they had managed to include more than one woman of color (and maybe even an academic WOC) in the core team [or if they had let it be possible for Holtzmann to be openly gay], but the chemistry between the foursome we got is really great and all four of them are great in the group and individually. Chris Hemsworth is the perfect addition to them and has never been funnier, I think. And the cameos from and references to the original film are just perfect.

And to top it all off, the film looks great (and has some clever uses of the 3D), manages to keep the spirit of the original movies (that I love) and goes by like a breeze. It’s perfect popcorn entertainment (and even tackles issues like sexism and male entitlement, though not in any depth).

Summarizing: Absolutely lovely.