Ghostbusters

 GHOSTBUSTERS 

Director : Paul Feig

Year : 2016

Genre : Comedy

Rating : ***

Despite being the victim of a terrible marketing campaign, the target of ridiculous, spiteful, immature and in retrospect, utterly unfounded misogynist attacks and the record holder of the most disliked movie trailer in Youtube history *, Paul Feig's ('Bridesmaids', 'Spy') female-led reboot of Ivan Reitman's 1984 classic horror comedy really isn't as bad as the nostalgic naysayers hope it to be. In fact, it's actually rather good. 

The plasma blasters and proton packs once held by Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Eddie Hudson are now placed in the capable hands of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones who star as the titular quartet of paranormal exterminators and while they may not have the chemistry of their hilarious predecessors, every actress deftly fulfills their respective roles with pizzazz, wit and a hell of a lot of humour. 

As is to be expected, McCarthy and Wiig are both very good here, each delivering zingy dialogue and hard-hitting one liners with ease and skill. But is is Saturday Night Live alumni Leslie Jones and especially Kate McKinnon who prove to be the real highlights here - each adopting a naturalistic, almost improvisational style that calls to mind the ingenious work done by the aforementioned Murray as Dr. Peter Venkmann in the original film. Add to all of this a hunky yet dim-witted receptionist played by Chris Hemsworth, snazzy special effects that are both fun and visually impressive and a barrel full of jokes that hit more than they miss and you have a film that doesn't try to step on the heels of or displace the legacy of it's admittedly superior predecessor but instead stands on it's own as a genuinely funny movie - proving once again that comedy isn't simply a matter of chromosome arrangement. Ignore the trolls, avoid the trailers and go and see it. I ain't afraid of no reboot and you shouldn't be either.

* at time of writing