Sisters in spirit

Film review: Ghostbusters

MANILA, Philippines – When I first heard that there was to be a reboot of the 1984 Ghostbusters, my first thought was why tamper with a comedy classic. But hearing that director Paul Feig would be at the helm and that he was converting the film’s premise to an all-female team; I literally smiled, thinking “Why not?” After all, Feig is one of the smarter comedy directors of today and I loved his Bridesmaids and Spy.

Gathering two Saturday Night Live (SNL) alumni, Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig, and teaming the pair with two current SNL cast members, Kate McKinnon (loved her take on Justin Beiber on SNL) and Leslie Jones, seemed like a casting coup. And with original director Ivan Reitman producing, and original cast member Dan Aykroyd as executive producer, you just knew there would be a healthy respect for the classic, while being cognizant of how one had to bring something freshly funny to the table.

McCarthy as Abby and Wiig as Erin are the paranormal experts, having once co-authored a book on the subject. But while Erin has since gone straight academia seeking tenure at Columbia, Abby has stuck to the game, enlisting nuclear engineer Jillian (McKinnon) to create gadgets and devices meant to entrap ghosts and supernatural phenomenon. Jones plays Patty, a NY subway ticket booth attendant and NY history buff, who upon encountering a ghost, decides to complete the Ghostbusters team. Along for the ride is their doofus office secretary Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), short on brains but getting more than by on his looks alone. And there you have the set-up for this reboot, alternative take on the Ghostbusters legend. Rather than compete head-on with the original, or attempt to further the story as Ghostbusters 2 did, the film has its own starting point, and merely rekindles the spirit and anarchy of the original as its winning formula.

For those who are fans of the first franchise films, they’ll be happy to find Slimer, the Ecto-car, and numerous cameos cast a hilarious salute to the first film. Among the irrepressible cameos we find Aykroyd himself, Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver and Ernie Hudson. While Harold Ramis has passed away, I was wondering why no Rick Moranis. Thanks to Feig’s directing and his co-writing the screenplay with Katie Dippold, the film once again banks on the chemistry between the leads, and the realization that whether male or female, the film succeeds because it is centered on friendship and the camaraderie between these geeks and nerds — these social outcasts who have turned their obsession with the paranormal into a bonding statement.

One running gag is Erin being madly attracted, for all the wrong reasons, to Kevin. And for me, the scene-stealers here are Hemsworth as the inept, dim-witted Kevin, and McKinnon as Jillian. She comes closest to being the female counterpart of Murray’s character in the original. Unlike Abby and Erin who feel ostracized as ghost geeks, Jillian wonderfully couldn’t care less, seeing all that transpires as just spectator sport, to observe while munching on junk snacks. She’s like an overachieving slacker, who keeps us on our toes with every scene she’s in. It’s only when the film goes all out CGI for a rousing action finale, that I missed the character development and interaction that buoyed so much of the film.

Definitely this is not a case of Ghostbusted or Sister Ghost of a Chance. While I still find Bridesmaids and Spy my favorite Feig films, this is a successful foray into the big budget film arena for Feig. And I loved how he teased stellar performances from his whole cast. He knows how to give each and every lead her chance to shine, and create a lasting impression.