LYR: Ghostbusters is overrated

With Halloween now in the rearview mirror, a lot of people are thinking back to all the spooky films they watched. Some of them were probably great, but we can all agree there is a wrong way to do a spooky movie. One of the classics that everyone loves to rave about is Ghostbusters.

I’m cohost of NR92’s after hours show: Like You Remember, so watching old classics is kind of my whole thing. My cohost, Kacey, had seen Ghostbusters a couple times and thought it was pretty good, so she suggested we cover it. I wasn’t convinced it was going to be any good, but I was ready to be surprised when I went to watch it for the first time this past month.

To be completely honest, I really wanted the movie to be good. I grew up playing Just Dance to the theme song (which in itself is a nostalgic banger). I had so many friends that went as the ghostbusters. I liked the marshmallow guy whenever I saw him in any advertisements. But when I sat down to take in the beauty of ghost busting, I gotta say I was disappointed.

My points are all taken from Like You Remember Episode 29, so if you like my terribly out-of-touch movie takes, give the rest of the episode a listen for my full review or catch the show every Thursday from 4-6 right here on NR92.

For starters, the main character, Dr. Peter Venkman, is a complete jerk. Completely unlikable in all aspects. And he never has any kind of redemption or anything that makes you root for him. Peter is overly sexual towards women and he talks down to his fellow ghostbusters. And I’m not kidding when I say he never gets better throughout the movie. Now, you’re probably thinking “Okay Sierra relax, it’s an 80s comedy. It’s not supposed to be super deep.” I know that! But in order to get away with a jerk of a main character, you have to have a funny movie.

I had a very hard time sitting through a lot of the dialogue with Dr. Peter in this movie.

Leading to my second point, Ghostbusters isn’t a funny movie. The plot is definitely bonkers, but not in a ha-ha funny way, in a “WTF is even going on” way. I just felt bad for all the women in the movie for how often they were the butt of the joke. There was a lot of slapstick comedy, which is fine and there’s nothing wrong with it, but it isn’t really my thing. The scene at the hotel was probably the only scene that got a bit of a snicker out of me.

I will hand it to this movie for being iconic though, you can’t deny how quotable it is. How you could show anyone a picture of Slimer and they could at least tell you what movie he’s from. The costumes. And like I said, most iconic of them all is the theme by Ray Parker Jr.

Overall, I don’t think how iconic the movie is makes it worth watching more than once. I would give it one watch just to say you did it, but honestly it’s 105 minutes you’ll never get back. The movie had such an odd plot, unlikable characters, and wasn’t funny enough to be enjoyable.

To hear all my thoughts, as well as why Kacey thinks I’m wrong, listen to NR92 every Thursday evening for Like You Remember.

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