LogFAQs > #903130324

And, in other news, I *finally* saw Ghostbusters (2016) and... well, it was somewhat bland, forgettable, and a bit boring which makes it even worse than I had assumed. The early stuff was pretty much a waste, other than the Aldridge museum stuff (where even the goofy, trendy virtue-signaling was still fun, such as the PT Barnum crack that was already losing relevance when the film was made). There were a lot of bodily/grossout humor jokes which just bombed. The characters danced a lot, eating up time. And many of the least-funny jokes also ran the longest.

The casting was abysmal although I kinda wound up liking Leslie Jones's performance. Kate McKinnon was mostly a waste. She had some funny gags, but mostly bombed. Cecily Strong (who appeared as the mayor's assistant) was also surprisingly unfunny, despite usually being pretty great on SNL. Melissa McCarthy was awful. I was kinda split on Kristen Wiig, since she had bad material but she also failed to deliver when her material was pretty good (although the restaurant scene with the mayor was funny).

As kinda expected with a gender-reversed cast, there were a bunch of SJW-friendly jokes and annoying overtones (since most of the film's men were either evil or idiots or both). The original cast cameos were mostly fun, although a few were forced (like Dan Akroyd's cabbie scene). Bill Murray's stuff was probably the most enjoyable simply for that resolution.

The supporting cast was surprising. It was neat seeing Tywin Lannister as a stodgy dean or whatever. I enjoyed seeing Zach Woods (who played the horror-obsessed HR guy Gabe in The Office) as the tour guide and his character was involved in a few of the funniest gags, such as mentioning that Ed Mulgrave had been dead for 15 years.

I have mixed feelings regarding Rowan. On one hand, it's kinda neat that the movie has a human villain and the decision is kind of a natural catalyst for the film's events, especially given how they tie his research into Erin's. However, the character is played too hard for laughs and there's a credibility issue in somebody with that many degrees being limited to janitorial work... as well as the fact that the character-establishing running gags about him being creepy weren't remotely funny. Of course, (major spoilers) when he possesses Chris Hemsworth, things immediately pick up since the villainy is a bit more comical and Chris looks like he's having fun with the material. Likewise, full ghost mode is pretty awesome

In general, the first two acts mostly suck but the third act is enjoyable. I loved the ghost parade, which reminded me of the cut level from the ps360 game. And the ghost brawl made for a neat action sequence in a franchise that doesn't usually do more conventional action sequences. Plus the effects were great.

EDIT:
As a side-note to that Barnum joke I mentioned, apparently PT Barnum -- vilified for his circus's treatment of animals -- was to some extent an animal rights activist. Which also reminds me of the weird history surrounding Teddy Roosevelt and the bear story, where Roosevelt had the bear in the story mercy-killed rather than actually freeing it. It somewhat demonstrates the moving finger of morality.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/how-pt-barnum-helped-the-early-days-of-animal-rights/525489/

TED Talk referenced by the NPR story discussing Roosevelt
https://blog.ted.com/the-strange-story-of-the-teddy-bear-jon-mooallem-at-ted2014/
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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.