- September 20th, 2016, 5:59 pm#4881139I'll admit it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, though I don't particularly care for it. I have a whole host of criticisms, but I will say there were some really good ideas in there. I did like that the Ghosbusters had a human adversary for once (for a while,) because I'd like to see GB stories that don't entirely revolve around zap and trap solutions. That being said, I agree he got no character development, which IMO hurt the movie a lot.
Also, I feel like an actual real idea of Abbey and Erin's past would have strengthened this movie. We have no idea what they were even angry about.
In discussing it with a friend after viewing, we came up with the following scenario:
Erin and Abbey wrote their book, and unknowingly attracted a very overly-enthusiastic crowd of "believers," including a creepy young Rowan who "hears voices." Rowan seeks out Abbey and Erin at a symposium, and sufficiently creeps out Erin enough to want to abandon the partnership with Abbey as it's attracting a lot of negative attention. Abbey wants to plow ahead, but Erin demands that the book be tossed away. Their long friendship gets strained, and Rowan now has a personal connection to the protagonists.
They could have shot that scene in a day, slipped in a flashback, and maybe tossed in a "he looks familiar" when they meet Rowan.
There are lots of little things like that in the movie, nuggets of great ideas that were gone in the blink of an eye. Erin's little monologue about the ghost at the foot of her bed every night... almost chilling! That could have really become something.
Patty's love of history combined with the chance to talk to people from bygone eras, that could have been quite a theme. I can see Patty geeking out about famous ghosts.
Like I said, there are nuggets of good ideas. I would have loved to see them developed better.
But again, I didn't care for it. I felt the bad outweighed the good. I've done some script doctoring work, and I really wish I'd had a crack at this one before it went into production. There was a lot of good stuff to work with that just got ignored, or forgotten in the rush for the next joke. Ah well.
In ten years, someone will try to resurrect Ghostbusters again, and I wish them better luck.