Ghostbusters (1984) - Movie Review
1"Ghostbusters" (1984) directed by Ivan Reitman is a certified classic which holds up today as an entertainment experience. I remember liking it as a kid but now I love it as an adult.
Ghosts and other paranormal entities exist but not everyone believes in them. Three doctors named Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) & Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) open a company called Ghostbusters which specialize in investigating and removing supernatural beings. One of their first clients is Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), who's refrigerator is home to a particularly powerful demonic presence. The Ghostbusters must save New York using their nuclear powered backpacks, but must be careful not to cross the streams as that may result in the end of existence as they know it.
Ghostbusters is actually even better than I remember it being. I think because I'm an adult now, I as able to pick up on a lot more of the subtle jokes and cues, making it a far more entertaining experience. A primary message of the film is that nerds are cool and can be womanizers, so a huge part of the humor is innuendoes and double entendres which I never realized as a child. In other movies this type of humor can be annoying or overbearing but it's actually pretty well done here and is one of my favorite components of the film.
Other than comedy, the movie features a good mix of revolutionary practical and special effects. The cast are utterly perfect and Bill Murray is particularly good because he has fun with his role and offers a lot of background sort of nuances that you'll miss if you blink. The lore / universe of this film is very pure and traditional as well which is a good thing. The film offers a great soundtrack with one of the, if not the single most iconic theme song of any movie ever maybe other than "Star Wars" (1977).
Ghostbusters was great when it came out and it's still an excellent benchmark of quality today. It offers a uniquely entertaining experience because it equally pleases both categories of audience, being youth and adults, and for different reasons.
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