Ghostbusters (1984)

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8 June 1998 by Gnoll 17 Comments

GHOSTBUSTERS

1984, Dir. Ivan Reitman
107 min. Rated PG.
Starring: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson.

Review by Noel Wood

Who the hell came up with this idea anyway? Let’s take a bunch of washed-up comedians from SNL and SCTV and put them in a slapstick farce about exterminators who catch supernatural apparitions. Now that’s quite a concept, let me tell you. Hey, Bill Murray is still kind of funny, but Aykroyd, Moronus, and Ramis just don’t have it anymore. They didn’t really have it years ago when this spectre spoof first came out. That’s why Ramis sticks to directing, a niche he still does all right with. Aykroyd and Moronus haven’t learned their lessons yet though. Did anyone see “Big Bully” or “Celtic Pride”? I didn’t think so.

Food for thought: Bill Murray is comic relief in a cast that features a bunch of comedians. Isn’t that sad?

So this is the product of a pre-Ah-nuld Ivan
Reitman, whose name was forever tainted when he met that Austrian musclehead. (See KINDER-
GARTEN COP: IT’S NOT A TUMOR, IT’S JUST CRAP.) Oh, did he do wonders to try to perk our interests by using big-budget special effects. Ohh…see-thru ghosts. THAT’s never been done before. Then there’s the scene where Pete Venkman gets “slimed” by the little green menace who later becomes an ally to the ‘busters. You know, they could have SHOWN Pete get slimed. Rather, we get to see the “after” shot of Bill Murray rolling around covered in in Nickelodeon Brand GAK.

Actually, I digress. I like GHOSTBUSTERS. I liked it when I was a kid and it’s still pretty funny today. But I think my hostility for this spook-fest stems from the phenomenon that was GHOSTBUSTERS and all the crap that followed. For instance:

1. A really lame sequel that Reitman actually put his name on and the ENTIRE cast reunited for, proving that these guys have NO integrity (and that includes Sigourney “too old for the obligatory ALIENS bra shot so I’m passing the buck to Winona Ryder” Weaver.)

2. A really lame cartoon series that featured a blod Egon, a thin Ray, and a Pete with the voice of Garfield. What the hell?

3. A really lame cartoon series that had nothing at all to do with the movie featuring a talking car, a gorilla in a safari outfit, and a villian with the oh-so-clever name “Prime Evil”. This series forced the aforementioned movie-based cartoon series to change its name to “The Real Ghostbusters” as if we’re too fucking stupid to tell the difference.

4. That god damned Ray Parker Jr. theme song that NEVER left your head. What ever happened to that guy anyway?

5. A stupid video game with aforementioned annoying song playing throughout in a stupid computer version. All Commodore 64 owners are bound to sympathize.

6. The pointless search for yet another theme song by yet another black musician leading to even stupider versions of the Ghostbusters theme by Bobby Brown and Run-DMC.

So I guess the rationale is that Ghostbusters isn’t that bad as a movie as long as it’s JUST a movie. Just like JURASSIC PARK and MEN IN BLACK and all the other fun movies that got really old when the countless merchandising dollars came-a-calling.

Do…Ray…Egon!

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17 Comments »

DogmA said:

Dude, Sigourney is NEVER too old for a bra shot.

# 21 July 2007 at 10:48 pm

TheDestructor said:

Idiot!

# 16 November 2007 at 5:46 am

Mack said:

Boy, is are you the biggest idiot in the world to say this movie is bad. It was probably to complex for you to even begin to understand. Retard.

# 16 November 2007 at 6:33 am

MotherPussBucket said:

Die.

# 16 November 2007 at 7:51 am

Noel said:

I don’t know which is more amusing. That you people:

a) are replying to a 10-year-old article;
b) are taking a word of it seriously;
c) actually didn’t take the time to read the whole review to see that I said I liked it; or
d) that you’re so bent out of shape about it that you’ve had to resort to threats (you should see the ones I didn’t allow to appear on the site — one I was actually tempted to forward to the FBI)

Man, Ghostbusters fans are a bunch of goddamn kooks.

# 16 November 2007 at 9:25 am

venk4prez said:

good review

# 16 November 2007 at 1:45 pm

Groschopf said:

Disagreement with the author aside – you can’t call someone a “retard” if you’re incapable of “spelling” or “constructing a sentence”.

Proofread before you question a man’s intelligence.

“Boy, is are you”….

# 23 November 2007 at 4:16 pm

Corrupt said:

You obviously have no taste what so ever. Someone didnt get that ecto when they asked for it that dreery Christmas. Or was it Daddy wasnt there? Or was it you had two Dads? and they got you Sweating to the Oldies instead. Well My prayers go to you… unless you’re one of those anti religion emo kids… in that case, when you die nothing happens :)

# 26 November 2007 at 1:15 pm

JON said:

FUCK YOU MUTHERFUCKER

# 30 November 2007 at 12:47 am

Ghostbusters.net said:

I fuckin hate your guts you stupid son of a bitch, i fuckin hate hate hate u bitch!!!@!#@!#@!#@! The cartoon series was friccin awesome!!1

# 30 November 2007 at 12:48 am

Noel said:

I love when ignorant idiots post twice in a row with different nicks, not understanding that I have your IP address.

I’m almost ashamed to say I like Ghostbusters after reading you morons’ posts.

# 30 November 2007 at 12:53 am

Ghostbusters.net said:

it’s me again btich die u mutherfucker

I love 2 eat cock so fuck u mutherfucker

# 30 November 2007 at 1:05 pm

Ghostbusters.net said:

lolz
yes im back, back again to bust up some faggot, except I’m also a faggot

# 4 December 2007 at 7:03 pm

MovieMan0283 said:

Did IMDB not link this until 2007? Decade-old responses…only on the Internet.

I could lambast you for criticizing this movie, but instead I’ll relish this line in the review:

“A really lame cartoon series that had nothing at all to do with the movie featuring a talking car, a gorilla in a safari outfit, and a villian with the oh-so-clever name “Prime Evil”.”

God, that brings me back. Even as a 5-year-old I knew that show was terrible. Thanks for the memories.

# 21 June 2008 at 12:30 pm

TB said:

I wanted to revive this thread just to bring back the term “MotherPussBucket”! I still can’t get enough of that. I would also accept “MotherPissBucket”.

# 8 March 2010 at 3:19 pm

odinscharge said:

First off, yes I am responding to this old article. Just found the website and just read the article. It seems to be in the movie review section and instead of the opinion section where it belonged. Second, you wrote an article on a movie that was fourteen years old. Then you proceeded to refer to it as if it was new.

You said that the cast were has-beens from SNL and SCTV. At the time most of them were in there prime. At the time the article was written Dan Ackroyd and Rick Moranis were irrelevent but not back then. Showing what little you know Harold Ramis was mostly a writer and director on such films as Animal House, Caddy Shack, and Analyze This. He wasn’t much for acting. I think that he was suppose to just write when he was brought on. Also, while Bill Murray has had downtime and done some crappy movies (larger than life); he has managed to stay relevent and prove his acting abilities and comedic abilities. If you didn’t like ghostbusters…fine. I hated Avatar but I don’t write a review that is based on my opinions and not on the points and merits of the actual film. I still think Ghostbusters was one of the top comedies of all time.

On the other hand the cartoon and sequel(s) are still open for debate. And the writers of the posts that just cuss or threaten should be embarrased at their ignorace and inability to string together a coherent argument.

# 30 August 2010 at 10:26 am

Gnoll (author) said:

I still find it funny that you are taking a word of the review seriously.

And a movie review *is* based on opinion, genius. There is no “opinion section” of this site. Perhaps you might want to try taking a remedial reading class.