Ghostbusters (2016), PG-13, ★★

Who are you gonna call? The New Ghostbusters.

In a disappointing summer full of reboots and remakes, there has not been one that has sincerely improved from the original material. I will save as to what I have to say regarding the controversy surrounding the Ghostbusters campaign. But, hearing the news regarding the cast, I thought that the chemistry will be fantastic because mostly of what Paul Feig, the director, can do with these ensemble casts and its genre. So, even though I had a very low expectation coming into this movie because of its marketing campaign regarding its trailers, TV spots, clips and magazine covers, I came away from the experience humbled that it was not a train wreck but it was certainly a disappointment because it felt more like a very long SNL sketch with inconsistent humor that don't land than a complete movie.

The movie starts with an effective and scary scene in which a tour guide (Zach Woods) hears a noise near the basement while closing up shop. He tries to run out of the mansion but the doorknob has been heated and while holding on, he sees the floor filling up with green slime and seeing a ghost rising up the floor. Dr. Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is a scientist working at Columbia University and is approached by Ed Mulgrave (Ed Begley, Jr.) with a book that Erin wrote years ago on the existence of ghosts, from which she regrets. Erin knows that her former friend and colleague, Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) wrote it.

Erin finds Abby in her lab with her new work partner, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), a nutty but astute engineer. Erin and Abby are still upset about the book. When Erin brings up the Aldridge mansion haunting, all three join in and investigate. When they go face-to-face with the ghost of Gerturde Aldridge, her face turns demonic and spew slime all over Erin's face. The ladies record a video while Erin says that ghosts are real. But, when the video falls into the university dean's, Harold Filmore's hands (Charles Dance), all three ladies are fired.

Erin, Abby and Holtzmann steal the university's equipment, set up a new location above a Chinese food restaurant, hire a handsome but dumb receptionist, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) and is visited by Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), an MTA worker reporting that she saw a ghost in the subway. They record the same ghost in the subway as Erin fires a proton laser that is not strong enough to eviscerate it but enough for a train to come in fast and splatter the ghost with ectoplasm. It goes viral and all four ladies become "Ghostbusters".

Chris Hemsworth as the receptionist. 

Let's get this out of the way. All the four main comediennes in this movie are funny in their own right whether if it is from SNL or from other movies. So, I am not against the filmmakers, especially director Paul Feig, who made The Heat, Spy but also the female-led Bridesmaids, which I think may be one of the funniest comedies of the decade. I have no problem with the approach that they are taking and I admire that this may be a stance. But, the hatred towards the idea of a female Ghostbusters movie is ridiculous.

And, that lead to a few of my biggest problems with the film. They only approached the movie with an idea but not much substance and comedic ability in this material because the humor regarding modern technology, misogyny and slime does not back up their talents and the story. The main plot regarding a man sensing a "fourth cataclysm" and turning into a ghost becomes thin storytelling and stretches into an over-the-top climax that all of the Ghostbusters have to defeat. Bigger is not better.

Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon have good chemistry with one another. Wiig's and McCarthy's distant relationship worked well in the beginning bringing up a bit of funny humor and Jones is comical in this movie. Even though McKinnon had a few comic moments, her character is out of place for most of the movie and the development relies on her making faces and some one-liners that don't work. I actually liked Hemsworth in the movie but his character sometimes becomes a bit of a caricature and in my mind, I thought, "Are they trying to make this character just an object?" I felt like that even though Feig was trying to make a point regarding gender equality, I thought Feig took it a little too far with that character, some male characters portrayed as arrogant people and one of the cameos, which serves a huge disservice to the original movie.

The cameos in this movie are unbearable and provide terrible timing in the storytelling. There's some funny humor and some tension especially in the first half of the film and I thought that this was going to be a solid, entertaining film. However, the thin storytelling supporting by a weak main villain and over-the-top climax, even with its solid special effects. is what broke the solid foundation that Feig and the writers are going for. The four ladies have good hardworking chemistry and has a really good set-up, but the film tries too hard to come across as a project that wants to bring out the nostalgia back into a new generation of moviegoers. It's no Independence Day: Resurgence, meaning it's not a train wreck, but it does not want to be its own product. It relies heavily on the original and it does not help. Hey, at least, it's better than Ghostbusters 2. 

**