Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, William Atherton
Ghostbusters successfully combines top flight visual effects, the paranormal, and sharply observant comedy. You wouldn't think you could meld them into one movie, but writers Aykroyd and Ramis and director Ivan Reitman manage not to overwhelm with excessive visuals and the humor derives from wit and debunking myths about ghosts. Plus the green blob that slimes Bill Murray and wolfs down hot dogs by the dozen is endearing.
Aykroyd and Ramis display a great deal of selflessness by allowing Bill Murray most of the movie's best lines. The ghostbusters of the title are Doctors Peter Venkman (Murray), Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Ramis), three parapsychologists fired from their university after the funding for their research is abruptly cut off. The scientific world sees the three as incompetent frauds, but they go into business for themselves as paranormal exterminators. If you have a problem with a ghost relentlessly haunting you, you call the Ghostbusters. Armed with nuclear powered proton packs on their backs, the guys roam the city tracking and capturing ghosts and spirits.
Business booms, capturing the attention of city bureaucrat Walter Peck (Atherton), who comes snooping around the abandoned firehouse which has been converted into the Ghostbusters' offices. Peck has never seen equipment like this and practically licks his lips at the prospect of shutting down and fining the good doctors. Peck's presence soon makes things a whole lot worse, and the Ghostbusters not only have to battle a gigantic supernatural monster from another dimension, but all of the ghosts they previously caught who escape thanks to Peck.
In the mix is Dana Barrett (Weaver), one of the first clients who calls after eggs cook themselves on her kitchen counter. After investigating numerous strange events in her apartment building, we learn the building was constructed as a conduit of the supernatural which will threaten at the very least all of New York City, if not the world. Peter likes Dana, and is more interested in dating her than he is about any of the ghost stuff. Murray, behind his nearly impenetrable wall of sarcasm and sly asides, barely takes his profession seriously, which isn't a million miles removed from his camp counselor supervisor in Meatballs and his army recruit in Stripes. Which isn't to say it isn't funny, because it surely is.
Aykroyd and Ramis are the straight men serving up grooved fastballs for Murray to knock out of the park. They are obsessed with the occult, to the point where it seems they've foregone any meaningful outside relationships. Winston Zeddemore (Hudson) is brought aboard as the fourth Ghostbuster when the workload gets to be too much, and he doesn't necessarily need to believe in ghosts to work as a ghostbuster. ("If it pays, I'll agree to anything you say,"). But of course he is transformed after witnessing the craziness.
Ghostbusters represented a risky comic gamble which at one point became the highest grossing comedy of all time. It was made with just the right touches, and doesn't sacrifice the humor at the expense of loud visual effects. Despite the big budget and scope, Ghostbusters at its heart contains the same spirit as Animal House, and that is very high praise indeed.
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