The best part about watching this movie is that it looks like everyone's having fun. Consider when the guys are in the sewer and they run into a bunch of poorly crafted decapitated heads — their frightened screams betray the excitement of school boys, or when they emerge from the slime and engage in the ugliest and most disturbing striptease of all time. The conclusion of the film is the most criticized sequence, the unity of New York's notoriously bitter and critical citizens banding together to stand up to Vigo's evil tyranny, and break his hold on the New York City Museum. The central indictment seems to be against its cheesiness, but to participate in this claim you have to be generally ignorant of the hour and a half of movie that came before it. This is not a sensible film, it's bizarre and unrealistic, but intelligent in its own way.
Three quarters of the way through the film the audience is given a break from the film's progression, pointing out just how ridiculous the movie's universe is. The Ghostbusters are admitted to an asylum and are speaking to a psychiatrist, played by Bill Murray's brother, Brian Doyle-Murray.
“He's drawing strength from a psychomagnotheric slime flow that's been collecting under the city.”
“Yes, tell me about the slime.”
“It's potent stuff, we made a toaster dance with it.”
“And a bathtub tried to eat his friend's baby.”
The props and special effects are used to wonderful ends in this film, appearing less flashy than other science fiction pictures, and much more wistful. The cinematography is gorgeous, the lighting is bright, and the performances are astounding. The people who made this movie love film, and love making film, and I think that in the end, it really comes together in an enjoyable, clever, and endlessly entertaining movie with brilliant performances and an unforgettable soundtrack.
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Article comments
1 - Brandy
It's a very fun movie. The baby is also very cute, as is Bill Murray in his interactions with the baby in their scenes. It isn't easy to act with a child or animal on film, as W C Fields knew. Murray pulled it off.
I love the fun they're all having on film.
2 - Doug Smith
Just wanted to say you're right on every count. I've heard so often that this film is "terrible," and every time I have to counter with nearly all the same good qualities you've pointed out. Very well written. Kudos to you!