San Franciscan

This feels awkward... how do I explain this?

Let me see if I can explain my reaction to this movie the best I can.

This movie came out when I was in my early teens. I first saw the commercial for it on television, and my obnoxious older brother was there pointing out every detail in the commercial and cackling wildly over it. I thought it looked intriguing and wanted to see it, but I couldn't figure out why my brother was going berzerk splitting a side over the commercial (he ROARED the moment they showed the now-famous Ghostbusters logo and shrilled, "Isn't that logo HILARIOUS???" I liked the logo, but I didn't think it funny).

Unfortunately, the movie came out at a time when I was expected to buy all my own stuff since I had a paper route. And that particular time period I was busy raising up money for a new stereo. So as a result, I was disappointed when the movie left town before I had gotten to see it. And I had sighed, "WOW, for a huge hit movie, THAT was sure gone fast."

For the next year or two, I was forced to endure everybody else's comments about how hilarious and wonderful this movie was. But whenever I asked what had happened in it, they never answered me. All I got was, "You've just GOT to see it, words don't do it justice, it's HILARIOUS and it's SO COOL!"

Well, during that time I had learned a few of the basics, such as the uniforms and the gadget packs their wore, but that was about it since nobody answered my questions. Fortunately, the movie was being brought back for a brief run in movie theatres before they released it to home video (back then, movies didn't get automatically released on to video a few months after theatrical release the way they are today--you had to wait a few years and then MAYBE if you were lucky it would be). I got all anxious to see it, raised a bit of money once I had gotten finished paying for everything else I had needed to take care of that month--and it was gone from the theatres again! Another groan of frustration from me. I thought, "Why can't the local movie house at LEAST keep it here for a MONTH or so???"

But then, FINALLY--around early 1987, I think--GHOSTBUSTERS was finally released to home video among a huge flurry of hype. And a friend of mine had managed to rent it one night while I was sleeping over at his house. So I finally managed to see GHOSTBUSTERS for the very first time--

--and I went "Huh?"

I just sat there with the most puzzled feeling and going, "This is it??"

I just don't know how to describe it. By the time I had finally gotten to see it, I was all prepared for that really "cool", "hilarious" movie everyone was telling me about... and I didn't get one. Instead, I sat through it bored and bewildered. I don't know, somehow I had just expected it to be... very, different. I don't know how, just different, not like the movie I ended up seeing.

I really, really, REALLY wanted to like this movie. I truly did. God knows I tried. I bought the soundtrack and everything afterward, trying to get myself to be as nuts about this movie as everybody else I knew was. But I just couldn't get into it at all.

A few months later my older brother rented GHOSTBUSTERS and my whole family sat and watched. I, along with my parents, just sat there confused. But my older brother, on the other hand... well, to give you an idea, during the one scene when you briefly see a Ghostbuster hopping along on one foot with his eyes closed, my brother was just rolling all over the floor and squealing with delight. "Isn't that just THE most HILARIOUS thing you ever SAW?????" he shrieked. The rest of us just sat there trying to figure out what all the fuss was about.

It wasn't until years later that I think I finally managed to figure out my huge disappointment with this film. I was not familiar with Hollywood names save for one or two, and I had always just taken movies at face value. It wasn't until much later that I had begun to be familiar with that one particular Ghostbuster who had been doing the foot-hopping that my brother was crowing about, an actor named Bill Murray. This was the first movie is he I had ever seen.

I hate to say this, but around 1992 or so after seeing many more of his output, I have come to the conclusion that I simply do not care for Bill Murray. I have never found him funny, on the contrary he bores me to pieces. In the future, I would end up just not enjoying a single, solitary motion picture of his--Bill Murray is apparently just not my type of performer. Only the spectacular LOST IN TRANSLATION ended up winning a huge place in my heart, not because I thought him funny but because I thought his character was genuinely touching and sublimely acted--and that was twenty years after the fact.

I find it interesting that, later on, I found the first season of the cartoon based on this film (THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS, so named as to distinguish it from another "Ghostbusters"-entitled cartoon released at the same time by Filmation) much more involving and entertaining than the actual movie itself.

These days, I can watch it on occasion, but I just watch it on a whim whenever it happens to be on. I haven't actually gone out and rented it myself to this day. My personal feelings are that I probably needed to see it as soon as it was released along with everyone else as opposed to after the rest of the world and putting up with all the hype--I think in my case my expectations ended up being raised so high that I ended up suffering "Phantom Menace" syndrome for this title. That's a shame, too, as I thought this should be a movie I would automatically love. I have the feeling not getting to see it fresh simply killed it for me and I just didn't get it because I didn't get to experience it along with everyone else properly. I still sigh in disappointment whenever I watch it, as even now when I see it on I try so hard to like it...

I really, really, REALLY want to like this movie as much as everyone else does, but so far I have yet to get above "just okay". Maybe someday I'll finally love it as much as everyone else seems to, though.