idave

A rags to riches story of a young woman from the Chigago projects who longs to become a fashion designer who has an on and off again relationship with a political activist boyfriend who doesn't do much to encourage her aspirations. Through an encounter with a fashion photographer in the department store she works with she ends up in Rome as a model.

It has many of the tropes of when it was made: that if a woman succeeds it has to be a Pyrrhic victory, that the success of her man should be put above her own without considering that it might be possible for both to succeed in their respective interests.

The ending is unclear. Is she giving up her dreams to be with her man? It doesn't seem to present the possibility of a bright future that the makers intend.

Ultimately this story comes off as kind of standard for the era - watchable but not memorable. It seems more of a vanity project for its star, Diana Ross, than something made for the audience.

This motion picture achieves the remarkable feat of making an extramarital affair boring. With the lifeless acting of the male lead, especially the infamous "wet dog" scene where a soggy Clint Eastwood bids farewell to the married Italian housewife in the rain, the scene comes across more pathetic than heart rending. A seriously overrated movie where the book, as sappy as it is, is much better than the movie.

First of all a response to all the morons who have given this a bad review without seeing it: You actually have to see a movie in order for a review to mean anything. Otherwise all you are doing to revealing an irrational prejudice that does nobody any favors, especially yourself. It reveals more about your character than it does the movie.

Now on to the movie. Most bad reviews of this movie are based on one thing: that the title characters have been made women. There is no consideration of whether they are funny women or if the parts as written have been performed well. Much of the bad feelings are based on not wanting memories of the original besmirched by a remake, especially with female leads. Somehow this level of outrage never seems to bubble up to the surface of other, far worse, remakes of popular movies and television shows.

So for these people, let's consider a thought experiment. You remember what that is, don't you? - Thought? It involves using your imagination? Remember that? Imagination? Try it. You might like it. If you can have the guts to see this movie (I don't care how. I don't care if you find a way to see it for nothing because that's not the point.) Imagine that the four leads were male and that they pretty much performed exactly as these women did. Would the movie be as bad? Remember, you actually have to see a movie for your opinion to mean anything. So let's say you have a higher opinion of this movie, all else with it being equal. What does that say? It says that your opinion is based on lies that you've told yourself.

Now I'll tell you MY opinion of this movie and I actually spent the time to see it.

The movie didn't overall blow me away but how could it? It's a reboot. The concept has been done before so it is no longer a surprise. When the original "Ghostbusters" came out this type of story with its particular combination of story elements had never been done before (at least not successfully enough to gain popular notice) and when it came out it was a delightful surprise for audiences. The casting was quite strong and made the movie come alive. The casting for this current incarnation is good too but not quite as strong and some of the writing is not quite as strong either, but you can't blame the people playing the parts for this. They've got to work with what they've been given.

There are a few weak parts in this movie that revealing I doubt would count as a spoiler.

When one of the lead characters is first slimed, there really isn't much of a reaction. There's no "ooo, this is gross" kind of a thing that would be funny. Instead one of them launches right into what this stuff is which robs us of the comedy of the thing.

After they spot their first ghost it's all a "hooray, hooray" kind of a scene in front of you. No sense that there was any really any risk in encountering this phantasm. This scene left me kind of flat.

When the "crazy" one (I can't remember this Ghostbuster's name - it's the inventor) tosses out all that technical gibberish the other characters just go along with it. There's nobody really who comes across as skeptical and everybody acts as though they know exactly what's being talked about. In other words, there's nobody acting as a representative for the audience.

There's lots of CGI in this movie and I think most people will take it for granted since movies have so much of it already in general. It makes the scenes bigger and more spectacular. There might be something lost in the loss of some more intimate scenes where it is just one character confronting just one ghost.

There is one great scene that involves Thanksgiving parade balloons but I won't say anything more about that.

So, if you can leave your prejudices at the door, you will be in for a satisfying movie - at least as satisfying as the average content coming out of the studios right now, perhaps a little better (comedies have been overall bad these past years). If you are offended because women have been cast for the leads of this movie and your mind can't handle it, by all means stay home and more importantly shut the hell up. You know nothing about this movie because you haven't seen it. Just watch the old one and forget about this one and leave it to those who can appreciate it for what it is.