It's a total reboot of the 1984 movie (let's try to forget about the unfortunate Ghostbusters II). The cameo appearances by five key members of the original movie's cast (not playing their previous characters, however) not only bless the reboot with an aura (ha, ha) of legitimacy, but also score some good laughs of the kind at which people a few years from now will scratch their heads, perplexed. In short, it was the perfect time to revive a peace of pop-culture - while it is still popular, but old enough to come across as something entirely new to many moviegoers today.
The main cast - the four Ghostbusters, played by Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon - has a similar type of comedic chemistry as the original quartet of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ernie Hudson. Considering the toughness of these broads, swapping the sex of the foursome doesn't change the overall dynamic that much. They're all very funny. The ghosts are reasonably scary, and the special effects are impressive, and the final "cataclysm" in the streets of New York is pretty exciting.
I have only one complaint: Chris Hemsworth. The aroma that this movie was planned by women, to appeal to women, comes across with all but suffocating potency whenever he is on screen. As the Ghostbusters' gorgeous but thick-headed receptionist Kevin, he savagely avenges all the actresses who ever had to play a ditzy, gum-snapping receptionist sterotype - including, I suppose, Annie Potts, who was one of the '84 veterans who cameoed in this movie. As easy on he eyes as he is, I got heartily sick of seeing him and wished he was the character who, early in the film, got pushed out of an upstairs window by a ghost. Actually, something like that does happen to him, but two of his employers rush to break his fall. I would be lying if I claimed not to get what they see in him; the closing credits, depicting Hemsworth leading New York's finest in a paranormal group stripper-dance, makes full use of the assets he brings to the movie. But also, it was stupid.
So, if they make a Ghostbusters II, let's just hope they edit Kevin's part down and give us more ghosts, more jokes, and more "New York is sitting right on top of Grand Apocalypse Central" jeopardy, instead.
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