By Kate Hawthorne, Staff Writer
If you came to Thomas 224 at around 7:30 this past Friday, you found yourself in the midst of some of the biggest excitement on campus. Every seat was filled so that, by the time the film actually started, people had resorted to sitting and standing in the aisles. Everyone wanted to get a chance to watch—or rewatch—this summer’s biggest feminist blockbuster: “Ghostbusters.”
Practically everyone knows the basic premise of the movie: the old “Ghostbusters” films of our youth redone with four females cast in the traditionally male roles and a “dumb blonde” male (Chris Hemsworth) cast as the receptionist. I vaguely remembered seeing the “Ghostbusters” films as a kid, and I knew that this movie had some big shoes to fill – it had to live up to both the old “Ghostbusters” films and the rave online reviews. When the movie started, it was punctuated with almost constant laughter and commentary. Every time the “Ghostbusters” song came on (which was quite often), the entire room sang along.
The movie is about 80% humor, 50% adventure and 30% feminist critique on the scientific and political world. Although there are some moments where the roles revert to more traditional male-versus-female stereotypes, the majority of the movie is just one long roller coaster of laughter. The four main actresses (Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones) were all absolutely wonderful and completely hilarious. Esther (BMC ’17) and Isobel (BMC ’18) said that they were “super gay for Holtzman [McKinnon]” and cheered each time she either came onscreen or made yet another sexual innuendo (which seemed to be part of the character’s MO, along with blowing things up). Chris Hemsworth also did an amazing job in his role as Kevin, the receptionist.
Some of the original cast of the 1984 “Ghostbusters” movie even returned for cameos. Three of the original Ghostbusters made appearances: One of them appeared as a bronze bust, the Ghostbusters’ receptionist works at a hotel, and Dana Barrett from the original movies (who is played by Sigourney Weaver) makes a cameo in a post-credits scene as Holtzmann’s (McKinnon) teacher. As with the Marvel movies, everyone in the know stays until the end to watch several scenes that appear throughout the credits.
I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone, having witnessed only positive responses from those who went to the showing. Lauren (BMC ’19) said, “I just loved how everyone started singing along [to the “Ghostbusters” theme song]. The best part [of seeing the movie] is the people… when everyone starts cheering!” Rebecca (BMC ’20) really summed up the wonder and magic of the experience: “There’s nothing better in the world than watching a feminist movie surrounded by a bunch of Mawrtyrs who cheer every time Kate McKinnon makes a sexual joke.”
From the print edition published Oct. 5, 2016
