Ghostbusters: Answer The Call

Ghostbusters: Answer The Call is the latest soft reboot of the Ghostbusters franchise.  Ghostbusters: Answer The Call is directed by Paul Feig and stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKennon.  The plot revolves around a recently let go professor of physics who has an obsession with ghosts.

This movie started out clever with Erin Gilbert (Wiig) working as a professor of physics because she decided to disown her love of the paranormal.  Again, she is fired and is asked to work with her best friend Abby Yates  (McCarthy) and her lab partner Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) because they have recently discovered ghosts have been haunting New York City.  The set up to the why these women become ghostbusters is interesting but my main problem with it is that these women don’t really seem to have personalities.  I never really feel that bad for Gilbert or Yates when the ghosts start haunting areas of the city.  Yes the Ghostbusters enjoy the small bit of busting they get to do but I never really feel invested in their mission to stop this menace.

The addition of streetwise Patty Tolan (Jones) midway through the film infuses more enjoy into the fear an average person would have if they ever saw a ghost.  All of Leslie Jones’s reactions to ghosts and the crazy technology created by Yates and Holtzmann is priceless.  For me, Jones created most of the laughs and that’s because her character felt natural and genuine to me.  If Tolan ever got in danger I would have genuinely cared about her welfare and safety because the character is funny and relatable.

The other character I truly love in this film is Kate McKinnon’s Holtmann.  The reason I love this character more than any other one in this film is because every action she performs feels random and awkward.  At the same time, because the character is so extremely awkward and in her own world it makes her the focal point and scene chewer every time members of the group get together.  In essence, she’s likable purely because she is strange which in a weird way makes strange the new cool.

Now for the negatives of Ghostbusters: Answer The Call.  I really genuinely wish there weren’t so many but this film has major problems.  There is no heart to this film.  There is horrible subplot in the film involving Gilbert being in love with insanely stupid secretary Kevin (Chris Hemsworth).  When Kevin becomes possessed toward the film’s climax I don’t care because he established no romantic in her throughout the film.  When you watch the original Ghostbusters film you care about Dana’s welfare because she’s developed genuine chemistry with Peter Venkman and seems to be at least perusing the idea of liking him.  This forced subplot weakened the film

My other major problem with this film comes in the form of Erin and Abby as characters.  Neither Wiig nor McCarthy are funny throughout this film.  I was shocked that I didn’t laugh at a single joke comment they made.  Wiig was the main star of Saturday Night Live and McCarthy has been the star of every hit comedy for the last five years so the fact that neither woman could make me laugh is embarrassing.  I want to be nice and say that I blame the failure of these two actors on poor script writing but I can’t say that because on paper these are two people I would relate to.  I have always wanted to write about film but have never been able to do so full-time and to an extent watching these women fulfill their dream of being ghostbusters is affirming.  It’s just a shame this reboot of the 1984 classic doesn’t have the teeth to both scare me and make me emotionally invest in these women who professionally are known for being funny and heartwarming.  These people are not afraid of ghosts but they’re also not the ones you want to call if you see one.