There's Something Strange in the Neighbourhood

          I don't think any movie envies this one. Not only does Ghostbusters have to overcome its extremely poor marketing but it’s a reboot of one of the most beloved comedies of all time. Which is a lot going against it. We were even wondering for a while whether this was going to be remake or a sequel.
          Make no mistake, it’s a remake.
          The story is about three scientists with an interest in the paranormal who after being fired from their research jobs start a business called Ghostbusters. They hire a fourth person to assist them as well as a receptionist and are soon tasked with stopping an apocalyptic event in New York while facing opposition and criticism.
          This, some of you may remember, is the exact same plot as the original Ghostbusters and in fact this film especially in the first half, replicates the original scene for scene. From the plot points, to where they come into play, to a haunting victim screaming just as the title comes up. It’s pretty shameless, and this is a movie that has plenty of product placement for that. But maybe that’s par for the course as a reboot. If the movie robs us of any surprise, does it make up for it in jokes? Sometimes it does. While some of the comedy crashes and burns, there are some jokes and funny situations that work alright. There’s a particularly good gag involving the original firehouse and some of the character bits are pretty hysterical. 
          But that doesn’t take away from the fact the characters are uninspired. Kristen Wiig’s initially uninvested, Melissa McCarthy’s overly enthusiastic, Kate McKinnon’s technologically savy and socially unusual, and Leslie Jones is the African-American blue collar employee. You can easily connect which original Ghostbuster each is channelling. The best of the four, and near-saving grace of the movie is McKinnon, whose erratic behaviour and devil-may-care attitude is pretty enjoyable. McCarthy and Jones have been typecast a lot as one character, and while Jones is doing that here, McCarthy’s not as irritating as she’s been in previous outings. Which is very resfreshing, but she doesn’t make much of an impression either. I feel like her and Wiig especially could have been switched out with any other funny actors. As a group though, the ensemble operates pretty well with believable chemistry. Chris Hemsworth is a bit surprising as a dimwit parody of millennial culture. Which is pretty funny in some scenes, but in others it's like an episode of SNL that he's hosting. There are some noticeably strange casting choices too like Charles Dance, Andy Garcia, and Ed Begley Jr. 
          And of course the original films’ cast appear in cameos that are very awkward. The weakest element of the movie is all the references made to the original film, to the point this one’s not allowed to develop its own identity. Director Paul Feig clearly feels they need the life preserver of the original Ghostbusters, but it doesn’t keep them afloat as much as sink them under the frequent reminders of that previous classic movie. And some of the references become pretty obnoxious, including the franchise logo, theme song, and the fact the climax is mostly a giant in-joke. They’re really unsubtle, easily alienating those unfamiliar with the original. 
          Though some of the comedy does work, the writing in general isn’t very good. One of the things that made the original so brilliant was that Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis were experienced improvisers, and ad-libbed a lot of their dialogue, including many of the most famous jokes. There was a spontaneity to it that this film couldn’t recapture despite how hard it tried.  Wiig, McCarthy, and others to their credit are clearly improvising in some scenes, but it's not very sharp and actually just prolongs some dull sequences. 
          However I will say the visual effects were pretty good. These were unique looking ghosts, their designs impactful if a little too silly, and the mists surrounding them were a clever touch. I also loved some of the technology McKinnon’s character developed as such devices felt naturally evolved from the original movie. 
          But at the end of the day, it’s pretty depressing that we’ve had three Ghostbusters movies all with essentially the same story. Primarily this reboot suffered from the same problem Ghostbusters 2 did: it tried to live up too much to the first film, and in so doing over-relied on it. There are some legitimately funny scenes, McKinnon does make it entertaining every so often, even the ghostbusters’ rapport can be enjoyable, and the visuals are good; but if the Ghostbusters series is to continue, they’re really going to have to take the life jacket off; prove they can swim on their own.