So first confession. I am not a Ghostbusters fan. I find the first movie a bit grating, the second a real mess, and I find the McCarthy/Wiig film the funniest of the bunch. So I went in to see Afterlife without a lot of expectations and it pretty much lived up to them. The story was slow and plodding yet satisfactorily sentimental. I enjoyed it while recognizing that it isn’t a great film either.
There is a real ugly trend in film criticism right now to shit on nostalgia. “Nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake” is a phrase that gets under my skin and makes me lose respect for those who use it. Fuck that. If you love something and want to see it paid homage, then who the fuck cares if a critic wants to rain on your parade. I thought Afterlife, a tribute to a film I don’t much care for, was a sweet and loving tribute that pushed all the buttons that I would want if I gave two shits about the original film. It actually almost made me care.
Sure wouldn’t it have been great if this film managed to convert me to a Ghostbusters fan? But maybe this isn’t for me. And maybe its not for cynics who want to ruin the fun for audiences. While it may not be a great film it isn’t a bad on either. And I imagine for those who love this world that it was a pretty nice revisit.
So if you are a Ghostbusters fan Afterlife will probably give you all the feels. If you aren’t you can still enjoy it for the rather silly and nonsensical fun that it is. But if you are a jerk you can try to feel all superior about why it really isn’t very good.
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
Starring: Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Carrie Coon, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor, Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, Harold Ramis, Olivia Wilde
Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman
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