Rotten Tomatoes shows the disparity between fans and critics on Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
My eleven-year old son and I went to the movies last night to see Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I was very happy we had just watched the original 1984 Ghostbusters this past Tuesday, because the films are linked by many very specific details.
Before we go further, let me say this: The movie was awesome. It was really, really good. The cast was perfect. I loved all the characters, but especially Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Podcast (Logan Kim) the two bright kids who make most of the supernatural discoveries during the film. They’re both really funny. Phoebe’s jokes had the whole theater laughing out loud.
But everyone was great. Paul Rudd as Mr. Groober, Finn Wolfhard as Phoebe’s feckless older brother, Trevor. Carrie Coon as Callie, the kids’ mom and daughter to her estranged father, Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis). The movie isn’t just a nostalgia-packed film for fans, it also serves as a beautiful tribute to both Egon and Ramis. The actor passed away in 2014. The character leaves us in the opening moments of the film.
I won’t spoil more than that. Suffice to say, this is a funny, exciting movie that has lots of cool connections to the original. If you’re not a superfan, watch the original first so you won’t miss all the easter eggs. It goes beyond nostalgia, though. It’s a great movie in its own right, and honestly it has better pacing than the original (and no super awkward ghost-unzipping-pants scenes, which are just not fun to watch with your kids).
Critics, on the other hand, seem to not like this movie very much. I’ve heard it referred to as a cash grab using nostalgia to sell merch—by the New York Times no less!
I can’t help but feel that much of this is politically driven. A response to the fan backlash against the all-female 2016 Ghostbusters reboot. Just compare critic and audience scores on this film to that one:
Ghostbusters 2016
62% of critics currently liked Ghostbusters: Afterlife, while 96% of viewers liked it. That’s still “fresh” but only by a hair. Meanwhile, the 2016 reboot was mostly reviled by audiences, who gave it a 49% compared to critics’ 74%—a much more solid “fresh” than this film.
So what gives? I really do think it’s partly the culture wars to blame. Fans didn’t like the all-female-led Ghostbusters and defenders of the film believed this was due to baked in misogyny. Fans, on the other hand, just didn’t like the movie. It didn’t feel genuine. A lot was made of this divide on Twitter, with various culture warriors throwing their two cents into the ring.
But here’s the thing: Afterlife is also a female-led Ghostbusters picture. Phoebe is the lead character, pure and simple. This is primarily her story. The second most important story in this film is her mother’s relationship to Egon. Trevor and Podcast and Dr. Groober and the original Ghostbusters are all secondary. This could have been called Ghostbusters: The Rise Of Phoebe and it would have been a more accurate film.
So clearly this is not about women in the movies. This is not a divide along deep cultural lines—but rather a culture war issue because the media makes it one. Do critics really believe that the 2016 film was better than this? Funnier? More true to the Ghostbusters? I have a hard time believing that.
Check out my video review of Ghostbusters: Afterlife below:
The gap between audience and critic is just too huge this time around. 34% is huge. When I wrote a Critics Must Be Crazy piece about Eternals I was more confused. That film was much better than critics gave it credit for, and audiences felt the same. But there was a much smaller divide, and there was no clear political motivation for that divide. I chocked it up to critic expectations of director Chloe Zhao whose previous film was Nomadland. Set the bar too high and you forget you’re watching an MCU flick.
In any case, the critics must be crazy this time. Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a hoot. I’ll probably go see it again and bring a notepad to write down all of Phoebe’s jokes. It may lean heavily into nostalgia, but it does so in the right way, remaining faithful and respectful to the original in ways that, for instance, the new Star Wars trilogy failed at, while expanding on not just the lore but the characters and their relationships.
Even Dan Aykroyd likes the new one, saying it’s funnier and scarier than the original:
“As originator of the original: Saw test screening of new movie,” the Canadian actor wrote on Facebook. “Apart from brilliant, genuine performances from the cast both female and male, it has more laughs and more scares than the first 2 films plus Bill Murray is in it! As one of millions of man-fans and Ray Stantz, I’m paying to see that and bringing all my friends!”
So go see the new Ghostbusters and leave your inner cynic at home. We don’t all need to be as dreary and joyless as the New York Times, after all.
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