61 - Ghostbusters

    A team of disgraced academics open a business capturing ghosts, eventually leading them to foil an ancient god’s plan to invade our world.
    An 80s classic that I had never seen before.  I think I’ve seen tiny bits of it occasionally, but the vast majority of this was new to me.
    I’m sad to say that I was disappointed.  It’s a mildly fun movie.  It has a cast that is - for the most part - excellent.  But the problem is never the cast, it’s that the story is dull, in a weird way.  Every step of the story seems telegraphed.  There was never a sense of unpredictability to the jokes.  The only exception to this rule is Bill Murray’s work.  He does a fantastic job of keeping the story lively.  Everyone else handles their lines wonderfully, but none of them have that unpredictable quality.
    There’s a nonsense to the plot, and it’s very strange.  The movie starts by establishing a real ghost sighting in a library.  The scientists are thrilled by this.  The weird thing is that the movie never seems to consider it to be a strange thing.  The world doesn’t take notice of this sudden scientific evidence.
    The massive goodwill that this movie has is a big enough clue that this is clearly a movie that works best for kids.  There are a few scary moments, but they don’t make the tone of the movie change.