Ghostbusters Review by Lisa Johnson Mandell @HomeInHollywood

I so don’t get the controversy over this film. The 1984 original did indeed become iconic, but it’s certainly ripe for a reboot after 32 years. Don’t Batman, Superman and Spiderman get a little work done and then come back to plague us three or four times a decade? This fresh take on a comedy classic, starring some of the world’s greatest comediennes, is at least something we haven’t seen before. What’s so wrong about letting the girls have a go at it?

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, as it turns out. Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon are spot on choices to replace Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson as a quartet of Manhattan-based paranormal investigators who arm themselves with whacky gadgets to combat the odd uptick in ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. The addition of Chris Hemsworth as their himbo receptionist is sheer genius.

Now this is not to say that the 2016 version of Ghostbusters is the perfect film. I place the blame for that squarely on other shoulders of Paul Feig, who directed and co-wrote the script with Katie Dippold. While Feig was able to elicit razor sharp performances from the actors, he took a charming and amusing first half, then overstuffed the rest of the film with so many ray gun blasting special effects I felt like I’d stuck my finger in a light socket by the time it was through.

And while the stars all gave game performances, they would have been better served with a sharper script that better defined their characters and dialogue. Many bits just trail off, without the crisp punctuation of the original, and the characters’ all have funny mannerisms that never quite gel into identifiable personalities.

But perhaps I’m expecting too much from the summer’s most anticipated popcorn flick, according to a Fandango moviegoers survey. See it in 3D for stunning pop outs, and just close your eyes when the ghost busting rays start to sizzle them. Ghostbusters is definitely night out worthy.

Rated PG-13

1 hour 45 Minutes

Get times and tickets at Fandango.com

GHOSTBUSTERS Review — Busting Makes Me Feel Good

by Lisa Johnson Mandell