Ghostbusters II

My wife had never seen the 1980’s Ghosbusters movies, so we put on the first one a few months ago and, after finally setting up a DVD player, the second one over the course of the last few days. This is a very tough movie for me to rate blindly, as I’ve seen it a bunch of times over my life and have serious affection for it.

Semi-objectively, the story is pretty solid, the characters are good, the acting is fine and it’s enjoyable to watch. The only part of the plot that doesn’t make sense is that the Ghostbusters saved New York City in the first movie, yet people still think they are con men in this film, and that they make stuff up. There were cameras in the 80s, so it’s pretty silly that people don’t have evidence that the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man actually walked through NYC. Other than that, the story makes sense following the premise that ghosts exist.

Ghostbusters II does better as an action than a comedy, even if it’s more humorous than hilarious. Egon’s story about only owning part of a slinky and straightening it as a child kills me, but for the most part this movie is plot driven. I think this is a solid 7, and I’m not sure why IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes are such haters, particularly since I seem to usually be harsher than they are.