Paul Feig wants to share his Cut of fembusters

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by TommyT

He-man is cooler than TMNT. That’s a given.

A better question, what did they get so wrong in 16, aside from the women? What does a good GB reboot look like? GB 2021?

Well, at least you see that.

I wouldn't presume how to reboot or revitalize Ghostbusters since I don't make movies. I know what I'd personally like to see or do, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's best.

I can go on and on about everything I don't think worked about "Answer the Call", though. For one thing, it was made by people who ranged from not knowing to not caring about the original property, and that was probably Misstep #1. When Feig said to Sony, "I don't think I should do this," that was a red flag. He only took the job because they morphed it into a Female Empowerment Comedy. That was another mistake, because if you were to make a chart or graph, you'd see very, VERY little cross-over between people who call themselves "Ghostbusters fans", and people who generally like Chick Power flicks OR simply the rest of the movies in Feig's catalog. But anyway, if a guy tries to beg off of a project, you should probably let him. Director, actor, anybody... you're not gonna get someone's best work if they're only doing it at gunpoint.

Mileage varies because this is all subjective, but I didn't think the movie worked at all on a technical level. As in, remove "Ghostbusters" from the equation and I still think it's a misfire on most levels. The characters were not easy to like or sympathize with, and most of them were incredibly annoying. Improv comedy is extremely hit-or-miss, and this was so incredibly "Miss". The only thing I remember even cracking a smile at was Ernie Hudson's bit about "Stackin' 'em like flapjacks" and that was mostly because of how he delivered it. The running gag about the Chinese restaurant, what... what the hell WAS that? It wasn't even funny the first time, and they did it what, four times? A bad joke doesn't get funnier if you keep telling it. SO much of that kind of thing in this movie.

I know some people laughed at the various stuff with whatsername, McKinnon? The blond one. I forgot most of their names. Like, okay, yeah, I don't think it was funny but I kinda see why someone might giggle. But y'know, I don't think Bug Bunny-style sight gags with fright wigs and such really have much of a place in Ghostbusters. It felt very lazy and try-hard.

It all felt like that. Every bit of the movie tried very, very hard to be as "outrageous" and "zany" as possible and it was just incredibly dumb. "There's ghost slime in muh pussay." Ha ha...? I know she didn't say it like that but that's essentially what she said. None of the jokes or parts that were supposed to be funny made me laugh, but a ton of them did make me go, "Really?" I mean, I am not kidding when I say this next bit: Before I watched "Answer The Call", I kinda liked Chris Hemsworth alright. After, I never wanted to see him in anything again, ever. Especially after hearing that most of his bits were improv. That guy is a f*cking doofus. Knowing that everything in that movie was his personal decision made me lose all respect for him. He's got a loose wire if he thinks he's funny. He is not.

Leslie Jones simply shouldn't be working anywhere in front of a camera. I'm sorry, but the absolute nicest thing I can say about her is that she has no business working in front of a camera. She's simply terrible and that's all I wanna say about her. She's like a racist caricature come to life. Like you couldn't invent someone so obnoxious, and that's her Default Setting. I'm sorry, I gotta move on.

What there was of the script was not good. I mean, they took time out of the plot to "throw shade" at the Internet Haters. We're stealing bits from f*cking Jay and Silent Bob movies, now? And at least in THAT sh*t, 1. They were making a bad movie on purpose, and 2. It was a plot point, not just giving the audience the finger out of spite and hurt feelings. The entire film spent too much time on striking back and being man-hating, to the point where the entire thing insists upon itself far too greatly for a movie with nothing important to say. They shoot the Boss Fight Ghost in the dick area to beat him. I mean, that was a choice. And a lot of the movie seemed hellbent on taking potshots at the original for no reason other than "Get it? We're better." And it's like, "Nah, you're not."

Also, the movie ripped off the ending of "Pacific Rim" and I almost fell the f*ck out of my chair. I did laugh at THAT part, but for all the wrong reasons. Not that it was funny, but because "Holy sh*t, did they think nobody would notice this is the ending to 'Pacific Rim'?" It's the same ending!

So, the improv was irritating, the script was not great, one of the four leads is unspeakably awful and the rest mediocre, and they wholesale ripped off another, better movie's climax. What else... OH, yeah. Didn't care for the effects. Some people love them but for me the whole thing looked more like Scooby-Doo than Ghostbusters. It was much too bright and the colors were incredibly over-saturated. Again, not everybody agrees on this but I think their chosen "spooky" aesthetic was too much like a cartoon and it would have worked better if it were more scaled back. The radioactive greens were screwing the sh*t out of my TV. The colors didn't need to ooze out of every frame like that. It was just too much. Like, people complained about "Speed Racer" but that was trying to be a movie-as-a-cartoon so the over-the-top color palette made more sense. It just didn't fit right for this kind of thing where it sometimes pretends to be serious.

As you can see, there are a lot of reasons I think this movie was awful that have nothing at all to do with it being a poor representation of the "Ghostbusters" brand. I think it is also that, but I think people don't pay enough attention to the fact that aside from what it's called, it just doesn't really work. I've said this about other things, but it feels like an SNL skit making fun of "Ghostbusters" that simply never ends, rather than a legitimate "Ghostbusters movie". And maybe that's on purpose but I don't think it's what they should have done.

It was without question one of the most unpleasant times I've ever had watching a film, and I'm not just saying that to be mean. I'd rather watch "Casualties Of War" every day for a week than watch "Answer The Call" even once. The fact that it has "Ghostbusters" in the title bothers me, but that's not really even the half of why I don't like it.

They probably should have called it "Spook Smashers" and marketed it as a straight-up spoof film a'la "Scary Movie". Framed like that, but with every single thing done exactly the same... maybe it would have worked. I still don't think it was funny, but it definitely feels more like a spoof than a "straight" picture. They should've leaned into that. Instead it sort of straddles the line between spoof and remake, and does both poorly.

It's all subjective, and some people love it, but I think anyone with any objectivity at all should be able to see why it's a mess. But that's my perspective. I do think it's telling that most people I've seen say they genuinely enjoy it, have at some point in their life spoken of drinking someone's salty tears, without irony. When considering opinions, one always does well to also consider the source.

I'm one of the few people who has not done cartwheels for the new movie that's coming out, simply because I think they missed their chance to do a "great" sequel when Ramis died, and because we simply haven't seen enough. I do think, though, that based on the one trailer we've seen, it has a very, very good chance of at least being better than "Answer The Call". I hope it's great, but I wasn't as blown away by the shot of the car in the barn like everyone else was. I'm not quite such a cheap lay. I'm easy, but not that easy. But I'll be the first to give credit where it's due if it turns out well.

[TommyT]

Thats why I was wondering what it is that people love about Ghostbusters.
If you remove that element, its a clone of every other fempower mcarthy prat fall comedy. Its that exact formula.

Which, as a non fan, is kind of what GB seems to be too, an ensemble comedy movie, which happens to have ghosts. Not shade, just what it seems to be.
So really, if you’re making that, and you hire those players, the actors and feige, thats the movie you’re going to get. GB is going to just be the background, they will poke fun at the idea, they won’t be serious.

The question is if you have to make a sequel, in 2016, what does it look like? Could have easily been cast with 4 dudes, I think it would have been just as bad to be honest. I don’t think you can make GB today, anymore than you could do a remake of 3 men and a baby.
2021 looks really stupid, but maybe its what fans want. But if you start treating GB like high art, don’t you lose the fun of it? Or is goofly wrong?