Correct!
- There’s nothing in the frames
One of the best gags in the movie, where the doofus heartthrob receptionist reveals he only wears glasses to resemble a smart person, but his glasses’ frames hold no lenses.
- Later, the producers of the movie wondered why no one was picking up the phone
Marketing rebranded Ghostbusters (2016) to Ghostbusters: Answer The Call (2016), trying to get the home video market to be more enticing to call center workers, receptionists, and fans of Joseph Campbell.
- it’s not a wholly original story|
It’s kind of a reboot! Peppered with several winking glances to the earlier movies.
- one deleted scene shows up in the credits
So there was a big setpiece with a ton of choreography, but for pacing reasons or something, it was cut and played over the end credits.
- There’s a really terrific collection of talent in the cast, so much so that the cameos give off a confusing effect.
You’ve got your Bill Murray, your Dan Aykroyd, your Ernie Hudson, your Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts, not to mention other funny folks like Jared from Silicon Valley and Matt Walsh from Veep, UCB, the Daily Show (etc.). The Ghostbusters vets tell the viewer, “hey, remember the earlier movies we were in? The catchphrases, the memorable characters and situations? Despite those callbacks, try not to compare this movie to that movie, though. This is a reboot!” But Ghostbusters (2016) was a lot like Jurassic World (2015). Jurassic Park wasn’t a comedy, but it was a certainly a crowd-pleaser, and that implies some comic relief. Ghostbusters (1984) was more of an outright comedy, but like Jurassic Park, it also came from the tradition of the 1970s disaster movie. Answer The Call and ‘World were a fine enough ideas for movies, proven talent were gathered to make them manifest, and everyone obviously sweated over them to make them funny and dazzling. They also had enormous budgets relative to their predecessors. Also, neither were likely to exist except that their predecessors still hold such a grasp on moviegoers’ imaginations that they provided a built-in audience. Is that bad? I dunno, I’d rather re-watch Answer The Call than Ghostbusters 2, and Jurassic World over Jurassic Park 3, but neither of the newer movies feel as authentically pleasing as the originals.
- The movie’s director has a certain sartorial affectation, but there’s no rule you have to wear sweats and t-shirts to direct a film
Paul Feig, who made his bones as a producer and writer on the wonderful Freaks and Geeks back in the day, apparently went all in on becoming a clotheshorse. This is a typical picture of him, and apparently he dresses up this way on set, too.
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- The main actors had all hosted or starred in Saturday Night Live
Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon are or were bright spots on the show, and Melissa McCarthy did great when she hosted (and did a recurring role as then-press secretary Sean Spicer). (No one asked, but the misogynistic backlash to the casting news of a Ghostbusters reboot — but with women! — really pissed me off. All these actors were terrific with their own energy. Their gifts didn’t quite gel compared to the chemistry of the four guys from the original movie but, first, that’s not necessarily a problem, and second, that’s pretty far down on the list of setbacks that kept this movie from being among the best movies of its year. I could go on at length, but this is lengthy enough.)
Anyway, well done, @KWhit. You’re up!
