User reviews

This reboot of the classic Ghostbusters film tries to be an improvement, but falls short in terms of script and characters. It has a good production, good cinematography, crazy action scenes and dazzling digital effects. The design of the ghosts is amazing and gives them a very cartoonish look. The rest of the movie leaves a lot to be desired. It has a fascinating story with an interesting villain, but it's not fully exploited. The female leads that replace the original cast show some grace, but their characters are not well written. There are moments that, instead of being funny, the characters end up giving pity to others, like much of the comedy in the film. Chris Hemsworth's character is too clumsy and silly. He can make people laugh at times, but unfortunately his character is so goofy that he doesn't make for good comic relief. The script is pretty mediocre and that ends up making the movie far from a good reboot. Even the cameos by the actors from the original movie don't help much. This Ghostbuster movie is sadly a failed reboot and because of that it is the most inferior installment in the entire franchise. My rating for this movie is 6/10.

You have got to be kidding me. This is the movie that has caused so much hatred, rage, and controversy? This harmless, average, fun fluff piece? Pretty much everyone already knew if they liked the film or not before it was even released. I think a lot of people need a reality check not only on this reboot but on the original as well. Hailing the original as some sacramental divine piece of cinema that cannot be improved on is a complete joke. No, I don't hate the original. No, I don't love the reboot. They are both somewhere in between with the original barely edging this out in terms of filmmaking. If we were to rate comedies on their "laughs-per-minute" then the edge would go to this reboot.

But how, when the special effects in the reboot are clearly superior? Turns out that there is far more to film technicalities than bright lights, pretty colors, and realistic green slime. Where Ghostbusters (2016) falters is in the editing and how the humor is set up. The film is too focused on being a ball-busting roller-coaster ride; rarely stopping to catch its breath. There are quite a few legitimately funny bits in here that could have landed even better if the editing was more precise. Silence and patience can work wonders in action comedies. Hell, just look at what Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton were doing literally one hundred years ago.

The cast members are at their best when they aren't forced into doing line-o-rama improv. I found Leslie Jones and Melissa McCarthy to be the shining stars of this with Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon not far behind. McCarthy notably is a groan-inducer to most, but she does well in films that she or her husband did not write or direct (Spy, St. Vincent, and now this). Jones acts as the grounded everywoman who keeps the nutty ghost hunters in line, and for my money has the best comedic timing out of the four. McKinnon seems to have downed a few energy drinks before every shoot as she is incredibly extra in every scene, often more so than required. Wiig tries to bring an emotional backstory to the picture but it gets lost in all of the neon rainbow effects.

If you're one of the few somehow still on the fence about this: give it a try. It won't ruin your childhood, or kick your dog, or kill your family. At worst you'll walk away unamused and then proceed to pop in the original.

This is an average to marginally above average movie. Melissa McCarthy is hit or miss for me, but she does well here. Kristen Wiig is always good, McKinnon and Jones both shine and Chris Hemsworth delivers as well. Everyone makes the best of the given material, which is not always great. The banter is good, but the characters can be one-note. Hemsworth is dumb, we get it. He has a few really funny lines, but "dumb" is his entire character. Jones has the same one-note problem. McKinnon was my favorite, she brought a sort of Bill Murray quality of not taking the plot seriously. Overall I LOVE that they had an all female cast for a summer action-comedy and I think they got the right actresses for it. However, the overall plot left something to be desired. I would have liked them to explore the main villain a bit more. I get that the joke is that he's a whiny, entitled guy but it would have liked to see him really overreact to rejection. They also don't really bust a lot of ghosts in this movie. They catch maybe one before the climax.

So like I said, the acting and line-to-line dialogue was good but the overall writing doesn't really stick. It's entertaining. Don't listen to the original Ghostbusters fanboys who dedicated their time to destroying this movies IMDb rating.

There was no need to make this. It was diabolical in many ways and after just viewing the trailer for Afterlife this pops back up with a 6.6 star rating. How?! Ghostbusters 2 has a 6.6 rating. You're telling me that people think this crap is equally good?! No! The only good thing about this disaster was one particular scene in 3D. Hopefully Afterlife will be far better.

You know I really enjoyed Ghostbusters. It was not a groundbreaking movie of the summer, but it was not that bad either. I enjoyed the chemistry between all four characters, and I laughed quite a bit throughout the movie. It also had many great special effects and an interesting storyline. I definitely look forward to a sequel if they decide to create one.

However you have to erase all memories of the first two Ghostbusters films in order to appreciate this one at all. They give homage to the past films, but this is a total reboot for a new audience .

I have no problem with the "female power" message within this film. I do like strong female characters in action movies, so it did not bother me. The only thing I did not really like is that all of the male characters were either dumb, or had some type of strong obvious negative character trait. I don't think that a movie has to totally diminish the male characters in order to make the female character shine more. Why can't there be a balance? The main villain was interesting too, but they could've built him up more, because in the end he wasn't the most memorable to me. But otherwise I really enjoyed this movie.

How do you go from being involved in Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Weeds and Arrested Development to this?! Paul Feig has just lost every ounce of talent he once had. It's really sad because I love all those shows.

He has a talented cast to work with. I like both Wiig and McCarthy and MacKinnon has made me laugh several times on SNL. Hemsworth is also a good actor, as are several of the the supporting cast. The script however is just mind-bogglingly bad. It would have been rejected in a grade school drama class. If you add the fact that Feig's direction seems to consist of telling his cast to improvise, and whether the improvs are funny or not (mostly not) keeping them in the movie you have the recipe for a really bad film.

There's really no story, no characters to care about and the parts that are supposed to be funny fall flat. It's a waste of money, talent and a franchise that could have been resurrected and profitable, had it been done right.

6.8?!?! How is this rated higher than the 1989 sequel?!?

This movie was awful. Like, really bad. I'm a huge Ghostbusters fan, but this was not it. Such a pointless movie to make, terribly acted and I'm pretty sure the rating was rigged somehow. Either that, or people have terrible taste in movies. The other three movies in the franchise were great, but this was horrible. Only thing remotely enjoyable (if I had to choose SOMETHING) was the cameo appearances by some of the original cast. Other than that... ummm... hmmm... cure for insomnia.

And that's it. Don't waste you time. Watch anything else.....

First off, this is my first review... And having listened to and read many of the comments about this movie, I was certainly skeptical. Add to that the fact that I am a child of the 70s, having seen the original not only in the theater when it was released but also many times throughout my life... I was even more skeptical. With that being said, I was very pleasantly surprised by just how good this was. I saw the extended version and really enjoyed it. It was clever, funny, and a great time. Do yourself a favor... Watch the extended version (the person I saw it with had seen the theatrical version and said the extended version was considerably better from a continuity standpoint) and go in without prejudice already tainting your feelings about it. The cast is great, the acting good, and the couple of hours were definitely spent with a decent amount of laughter and enjoyment. Kate M is simply hilarious and for me she stole the show.

For all the haters out there, especially the ones who hated it before seeing it, just get over yourselves. This movie isn't meant to take the place of your beloved original. Nothing ever will. That doesn't mean that a cast of women can't carry a movie (which they do) and make it a proper homage to the original, while creating their own identity. I loved it and surely will see it again. I might even buy it.... Just so I can show it to my son and he can create his own opinion and memories about growing up watching a funny movie about busting ghosts. I would wager a bet that if I did that, and showed him the original a few years from now, he'd say this version is actually better. Just like all the kids out there screaming about how the original is so much better. The only difference is that my child won't be attacking any of the actors based on their gender and his lack of self esteem.

Three scientists (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon) and a subway worker (Leslie Jones) form Ghostbusters, a team dedicated to ridding the world of unwanted spooks. The foursome have their work cut out for them when weirdo janitor Rowan North (Neil Casey) puts into motion his plan to unleash malevolent spirits on New York.

I'm not a huge fan of the original Ghostbusters, so I wasn't at all outraged when they announced the remake/reboot, with—God forbid—a female cast. Despite the trailer not boding well, and terrible word of mouth on the film's release, I was willing to go in with an open mind. However, I'm sorry to say that the film is every bit the total (ghost)train wreck that I had heard it was, well deserving of all the hatred and scorn thrown its way.

A terrible script loaded with extremely lame gags, four leads who share zero chemistry and who are not in the least bit funny (but very irritating), an extremely embarrassing supporting role for Chris Hemsworth (as dumb hunk receptionist Kevin), pointless cameos from stars of the original Ghostbusters (all of whom should have said 'No!'), and waayyyy too much CGI: Ghostbusters 2016 didn't have a ghost of a chance of succeeding.

When I first saw this in 2016 I wondered what the huge uproar online was all about. Seems like this got alot of hate for nothing,and most people who hated it didn't even really watch it or were just insecure toxic males who couldn't fathom and accept how awesome this movie really is.

It feels like a real Ghostbusters movie to me and that's all that matters. It's got alot of humor,and alot of action. Even more action scenes than the first movie. Only difference is that the crew is all women. Funny how these dumb haters managed to retcon this into Ghostbusters:Afterlife which is far worse and yet gets more acceptance. Sorry but I don't watch movies to see fan service, I prefer to them to be unpredictable like this one. It's a shame they left the better ending to Afterlife though,but as a movie as a whole this is much more satisfying. Anybody who doesn't agree with this review also is most likely just an ahole.

I've never seen the original, it's too old for me and the bits I saw were just not that good so I had no interest.

But when I saw this new updated version with a full female cast I was so excited to give it a try and DAMN am I happy I did! It was an amazing film! I found it funny, so much so that during the Metal concert I was nearly peeing myself, I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard! I liked all the characters (especially Holtz) because none of them were supermodel or your typical Hollywood female who kicks ass easily but still ends up as the damsel in distress. They all got a nice build, a nice introduction. The story itself followed along nicely and was interesting enough that it kept me entertained and the climax, my god, the climax! It was beyond amazing! It was so exciting! I was so into that final fight, especially Holtz with her guns and my God it was just a really good film! I also found the villain to be a good one because he had a good back story but he also wasn't a pathetic whiny loser, not really, because in truth he was really smart, even outsmarting the girls for a bit, as well as independent. He didn't have hired help or muscle men. He did it all by himself, so I don't get the people complaining that all the men were all idiots. He certainly wasn't. I also found Chris's satire portrayal of a typical dumb secretary good. It was a little over the top but then it was meant to be. It was making fun of all the other characters who played the same role, so even that was good.

All in all I give it 10 out of 10. I normally tear films apart (even those I love to bits) but I genuinely could not find a flaw in this film. To me, at least, it was perfect and I am really hoping for more.

This film is perfect, especially if you have young girls interested in action and supernatural. This film will give young girls and women someone to look up to and something to look forward to. I highly recommend it, so much so that if you do go, give me a call and I'll come with you to see it again! I loved it THAT much! I swear it is not the disappointment people have labelled it to be.

My family of five saw the new Ghostbusters film last night and enjoyed it so much, we will see it again. I saw the original back in the day and I thought the new one was just as good. We laughed continuously through the second half of the movie. I loved the tributes to the original throughout. Kate McKinnon should star in an action movie and Chris Hemsworth another comedy. It was a fun, action packed, goofy, scary, entertaining movie; much like the original. Don't let all the negativity scare you away. Go with an open mind and enjoy the ride. We did and are going to see it again. We'll probably buy it on DVD when it comes out. I would definitely recommend this movie.

What's to say? At this point the movie is so mired in controversy that any opinion on it seems like a political statement more than a movie review. But here we go anyway - I didn't like it. It feels less like a movie with an idea (in this case a recycled one) and more like one of the many subpar comedies we have today where a few comedians who are friends in real life get together and give us two hours of smug back-patting. It offers nothing memorable of its own, just a few reworked things from the original movie, which was a classic with many iconic images and scenes. The only thing anyone will remember about this is the controversy surrounding it. I don't care much for Melissa McCarthy or Leslie Jones but I do like Kristen Wiig and I'm trying very hard to like Kate McKinnon (perhaps too hard). None of these women are impressive here. Chris Hemsworth's character is used too much. It's an obvious joke that doesn't get funnier the more you tell it. Ultimately the problem with this movie isn't that "women aren't funny," so much as comedy writers today are very lazy and uninspired.

I don't know, even after many years this one is still controversial. I think it's cooled down a lot with another "Ghostbusters" film being released since this one. The original 1984 movie is kind of a "lightning-in-a-bottle" type deal. The sequel with the original cast altogether wasn't that great. The "Force Awakens" style Hollywood nostalgia money grab wasn't pretty mediocre. This remake is awful. You can make a movie like "Ghostbusters" or "Back to the Future" that just has a very original plot and concept, and no matter how badly you want the dollars that came with it, it's always gonna be a hollow attempt.

Man, this one is very bad though. Like almost insufferably obnoxious and stupid. It's disappointing because I honestly have nothing bad to say about any of the people who worked on the film. I liked a lot of the cast members in other projects like "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office." Chris Hemsworth is really funny, but they didn't even try to give us any chemistry between him and Kristin Wiig like they were teasing throughout the whole film. Not even anything like a funny joke. Just short little jokes about how sexy she thought he was or something.

The story is more or less a retread of the original's plot points, but I can at least give them the complement that it's a different one? Like at least not a beat-for-beat remake? Kristin Wiig's character is the only Ghostbuster that I liked, all three of the other ones really got on my nerves and the actresses all seemed like they were trying way too hard to just force jokes that didn't come naturally. I was laughing at some points, but at most of the others they just fell completely flat on their face.

Really terrible special effects and awful jokes mixed with extremely obnoxious forced attempts at poop and queef humor (yes there was a terrible queef joke in this that obviously went over like a wet fart) made this one incredibly hard to watch. And for that reason I would only recommend this movie to those with a very high level of curiosity or if you're a "Ghostbusters" fanatic, which I guess by this point most of them have already made up their minds on the 2016 version. It gets relegated to a footnote in movie history, like "hey remember back in 2016 when they tried to remake 'Ghostbusters' with an all-female cast?" That's really all there is to it.

Ghostbusters (2016)

1/2 (out of 4)

Wow, what on Earth were they thinking? I will freely admit that I love to see films remade. I mean, it gives the original some attention and in the best cases you end up with another good movie. In the worse cases, hey, you've still got the original film there. If anything this 2016 remake of GHOSTBUSTERS just makes the original all the more impressive because it's amazing how bad this thing is. And no, I'm not sexist or racist. I'm just being honest. I was okay with this film being made but it's really shocking how awful it turned out.

I'm not even sure where to begin in regards to the bad stuff. I guess we can start with the story because there really isn't a story. There's pretty much a bunch of stuff ripped off from the original movies and toned down here. The horror elements are all toned down. The sexism is toned down. There's really no "story" here outside of four women trying to capture ghosts. I kept watching this expecting something to happen but it just never did. Even worse is the fact that the film didn't make me laugh a single time, which gets us to another problem.

The four female leads here are just downright awful. I'm not going to put an awful lot of blame on them since I'm sure they'll all talented actresses but the screenplay pretty much gave them no characters. In the case of Melissa McCarthy, she's pretty much playing the same type of annoying character that she plays in all of her movies. Kristen Wiig was downright annoying, Leslie Jones was even more annoying and Kate McKinnon didn't even register on the screen.

Even the ghosts are downright pathetic and lazy. I use the word lazy because there's just nothing creative about them and once again it just goes to show how wonderful the original film was and they even make the stuff in the sequel seem better. I could go on and on about the awful stuff in this movie. I honestly had no idea the movie would turn out as bad as it did and it really makes you wonder why Bill Murray would refuse to do a sequel for so many years yet he'd sign up for this thing? I'm hoping he and the other cameos were paid quite well.

GHOSTBUSTERS is a film that could have worked and should have worked. I'm really dumbfounded as to what went so horribly wrong with this but just changing the sexes of a character certainly isn't enough to make a film work.

Let me first say, I was going to boycott this movie after the terrible previews released. I don't know why I did a turn around and decided to go see it opening night besides boredom. I'm glad I did. Fandom is a hard thing to battle when talking on a reboot of a classic. I went in not expecting much as a fan of the originals and knowing they were going to throw this out the window. So keep that in mind when you see it.

The best parts about this movie... It's rather entertaining as a story and has a lot going on to keep the pace moving very well. The special effects were some of the best I've seen in a long time. And the 3-D experience is not to be missed as it adds to the scare factor and things literally jump out at you and even fly past the bars of the film box and towards you. The cameos are also entertaining and that's what the fans of the originals are going to get the most out of it wanting it to tie into the originals.

The bad things,... Oh its so hard to think what to start with but I'm going to start with the music. Can we give fall out boy a rest already. Personally I hated every song featured and it really took away from the film with the atrocious tunes trying to make the flick hip. I say use the original song and let that be the focus. Now the movie to me was not funny at all. At best I smirked a few times and maybe let out 2 slight chuckles. Some of the jokes were just down right poor. When you see the flick you'll know what I'm talking about with the 2 different cat jokes. (Outta the bag, and Mike Hat) ugh! Also the Ozzy cameo kinda sucked because it wasn't really even a joke and the fact he yells out Sharron after all that's recently happened made the joke poor. They should have just cut his one line. My least favorite part of the movie, besides the music, was Jillian Holtzmann played by Kate McKinnon. Her character was annoying and just plain weird. Thankfully when she does say something, it's short. But those short statements made me hate her character because what she said most of the time was just stupid and came out as baby talk at certain parts. She dumbed it down and I would have rather the part was played by Emma Stone who was originally picked.

There are lots of reviews on here from people who haven't even seen the movie but hate women casts and hate the idea of a reboot when fact is, the original cast was never in a spot to give us that. Be glad we got this cause it's not that bad. I gave it a 7 outta 10. Visually and story driven it was really good and a fun time at the movies. A film is meant to entertain and this definitely delivered on that end. Go see it and get the 3-D cause it's worth it. Definitely changed my original opinion which is what we all hoped for. I get Fandom and the loyal subjects attached. I hated BVS dawn of justice and would give it less than a one because I'm such a big superman fan, but I gave it a chance. Give this a chance and I'm sure you'll agree, it can't be given less than a 5 from anyone who's actually seen it.

Contrary to the original, 2016's Ghostbusters is broad and lowbrow with pratfalls, bodily-function gags and buffoons mugging for the camera. Broad and lowbrow doesn't necessarily mean bad - even Blazing Saddles had the bean scene. What sets GB 2016 apart is its pervasive sense of desperation. The people making this movie clearly realized their loud, dumb, goofy approach wasn't working; and like a flailing stand-up comedian their only recourse was to become louder, dumber and goofier in the hopes of garnering a few pity chuckles. It's not just unfunny, it's downright uncomfortable and cringe-inducing.

This movie was made to entertain, period. It is not a movie that will make you question life and all of its' mysteries, but it will make you laugh. If you want to shut your mind off for a couple of hours, enjoy. If, however, you can't find humor in what isn't cerebral, buy a book. Preferably a textbook.

When news of a Ghostbusters movie hit in 2014 I was buzzing for it, finally a ghostbusters movie, finally a conclusion to GB 1 and 2 and a continuation with the old gang passing the torch to the new recruits. Oh how I was wrong, instead what we got was a slap in the face to the fandom, slap in the face to the mythology and a slap in the face to the movies that came before it. What was show was a complete reversal of what was expected and wanted which got rectified with the awesome and true sequel Ghostbusters Afterlife.

The fact that it had women has nothing to do with how bad this movie is....its just plain and simply a bad movie and rubbish storyline.

This movie deservedly thrown in the same category as Batman & Robin 1997 which nearly crippled a loved franchise, same can be said with this, the hate is justified.