The Sci-Fi Horror Comedy Remake Everyone Hates Deserves Fans
The all-girl Ghostbusters remake from 2016 is one of the best films of its kind, and it has not only gone vastly underappreciated, but it has generated real disgust and distaste from critics and fans of the franchise. This is a real shame because the movie has heart, soul, and hilarious laughs in spades, and it even has an interesting story to boot.
Fans Despised What Critics Loved
Never mind the fact that the Ghostbusters remake has a cast full of laugh-out-loud comedians and phenomenal directing. You just can’t ask for more. I am never the first person to scream sexism or misogyny in these instances, but it really feels like that’s what’s happening here.
Typically, I’m with audiences in terms of reviews. Critics may hate a film and audiences love it, and I’m with the everyday people. The same applies to the flip side; when critics love a film and audiences hate it, I can see why.
The Hatred Makes No Sense
But with the Ghostbusters remake, it just makes no sense. Rotten Tomatoes has this movie’s critic approval rating at 74 percent, but only 49 percent of audience reviews rate the film positively. To read the audience reviews, you can’t help but miss the entire point.
One person says the film “gave him a headache,” and another calls it “an insult to the original masterpiece.” Meanwhile, critics say the film is “fun, silly, and doesn’t take itself too seriously!”
Does everyone forget that the original Ghostbusters films were entirely “cringey?” There’s a giant Stay Puft marshmallow man roaming the streets of New York! There’s the attractive secretary who serves no greater purpose than to be cute and funny.
Top-Notch Storytelling And Acting Flips The Script
The Ghostbusters remake offers up all the same elements with an all-female cast and the “dumb and cute” secretary role being filled by a male. It flips the script, literally. And we get Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones at their absolute best.
Chris Hemsworth as the beefcake secretary is such a phenomenal role for him to absolutely make fun of himself, and you can just tell the team had such a great time working together that you wish you were on the set.
The Remake Dream Team
The Ghostbusters remake storyline centers around two lifelong friends who have fallen out of touch with each other, Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and Erin (Kristen Wiig). The two once worked on paranormal studies together, years ago. Abby has continued to research the paranormal in a small university lab, and Erin has left it all behind in favor of being taken seriously as a particle physics professor at Columbia University.
When a local museum curator encounters a ghost, the friends are brought back together, and Jillian “Holtz” Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) joins them as Abby’s new lab partner.
As the women investigate, they end up helping another woman, Patty (Leslie Jones), who comes to them for help with a ghost encounter she had on the job as an MTA employee in the subway. Now, the team of the Ghostbusters remake is complete. The women open an office, hire a ridiculous stupid ridiculous gorgeous secretary, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth), and get to work building equipment and hunting down the root cause of all these spectral appearances.
Give It A Chance
GFR SCORE
Look, the Ghostbusters remake is wacky and hilarious from beginning to end if you stop picking it apart, comparing it to the original, or expecting it to be more than four women kicking butt and taking names with nary a romantic interest in sight. If you’re lucky enough to have The Roku Channel, you can actually stream it free. But, honestly, it’s worth the $3.99 to rent it on demand through Apple TV+.
