★★★★
Director Paul Feig’s female-led reboot of Ghostbusters has been battling foes on all fronts. Not just the usual ghosts, but mainly the dinosaurs who have been passing judgement on the film in the year prior to its release. I’m happy to say that your childhood memories haven’t been trampled upon in the making of this film.
No recent comedy has received so much scrutiny prior to its release. One group of fanboys was so affronted, it launched a campaign to make the first trailer the most disliked video in the history of YouTube.
Given Feig’s formidable previous successes with the genre-changing films Bridesmaids, The Heat and Spy, the distrust seemed somewhat misplaced in a director who has become one of the best things to happen to big-screen comedy in some time.
Instead of taking the keyboard insults to heart, Ghostbusters writers Feig and Katie Dippold have deftly dropped them into gags with military-like precision. The writing is sharp and punchy, and some of the best jokes in the film are potshots at the doubters.
The chemistry amongst the four leads fuels the momentum of the picture. Feig favourite Melissa McCarthy plays the defiant Abby Yates, a down-and-out paranormal scientist who toils relentlessly with her ragtag engineer Jillian Holtzmann, portrayed excellently by Saturday Night Live alum Kate McKinnon. Straight-laced university lecturer Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) crosses paths with the two after spending years repressing her previous life as an authority on paranormal activity. They team up with Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones), and Chris Hemsworth rounds out the team as ditzy secretary Kevin in what becomes a tongue-in-cheek subversion of gender roles in cinema.
While the film respectfully doffs its cap to the legacy of Ivan Reitman’s ’80s hits, it never feels overwhelmed by it. Much was made of Ghostbusters being a reimagining rather than a reboot and that rings true. What’s left is a charming, if at times ragged action-comedy that puts four likeable performers front and centre.
The laughs are plentiful and the special effects deftly incorporated. This is the kind of blockbuster that has been sorely needed in what has been a trying year at the box office.
The comedian Chris Rock used to say that the beauty of comedy lies in the fact that you’re not judged on what you look like, or how you dress, but simply whether you can ‘bring it’.
Well, they’ve brought it. Hopefully, they’ll bring it again soon.
Ghostbustersopens in cinemas on Thursday July 14.
