Ghost Busters

Perhaps not quite the legitimate classic it’s been built up to be, Ghost Busters follows Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd’s Ray Stantz, and Harold Ramis’ Egon Spengler (and, eventually, Ernie Hudson’s Winston Zeddmore) as they open their apparition-fighting business and find themselves confronted with a host of spooky scenarios. There are plenty of elements contained within Ghost Busters to embrace and love, certainly, as filmmaker Ivan Reitman, along with scripters Aykroyd and Ramis, does an effective job of cultivating an affable atmosphere that’s perpetuated by the thoroughly charismatic work of the movie’s stars – with, especially, Murray’s justifiably iconic performance enlivening virtually every single scene he’s in. It is, as such, not surprising to note that Ghost Busters fares best in its loose, easygoing first half, with the narrative’s almost episodic bent placing the protagonists in one entertainingly over-the-top scenario after another (eg the team is confronted with the ghost known as Slimer, Venkman attempts to help and sleep with Sigourney Weaver’s Dana Barrett, etc). It’s rather disheartening to note, then, that the movie’s momentum takes a palpable hit around the one-hour mark, as it’s around that point that the emphasis shifts to the introduction of a new threat in the guise of both a smarmy EPA agent (William Atherton’s Walter Peck) and a malevolent being bent on world domination/destruction. The film subsequently spends far too much time preparing for the (admittedly stirring) climactic battle and it’s difficult not to wish certain segments of the third act had been trimmed down or excised completely, which, in the end, confirms Ghost Busters‘ place as an erratic yet consistently entertaining summer blockbuster (ie the movie probably works better in chunks than as a cohesive whole).

*** out of ****

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