This movie is bad, but contrary to the screeching from the redditchan oxygen-wasting dudebros on the internet, it's not because it has women in it or because of some '[insert half a dozen alt-right dogwhistles]' conspiracy to destroy the american male, it's simply because it's mediocre at best, it's not badly written or directed but it's a constant waste of potential.
On the side of the characters, Holtzmann is a treasure and possibly the best character in the movie, with all of her wacky Gyro Gearloose-esque antics she works great as a successor to Egon; Erin works well as the 'only sane woman' and the gags about her thirsting after Kevin are funny(at first); Patty is passable and has some nice one-liners, but feels really like Leslie Jones got the shaft since the one protagonist of color is the only one without a Ph D and a stereotypical sassy black woman to boot, Chris Hemsworth does his best at making his character Kevin funny and sometimes works(because he is a master at playing 'lovable jock' characters) but some of his gags feel way too forced; Abby is not a creepy narcissistic asshole like Peter but...is just boring, and Hollywood should really stop pushing this narrative that Melissa Mccarthy is funny, they should have cast some actress that can actually do comedy like Anna Faris or Regina Hall.
As for the villain, it was another case of wasted potential: resentful socially akward losers with a victim complex are great villain material that should be used more often, just look at Baxter Stockman or Hal Stewart/Tighten, but he should have needed more characterization, and it would have been easy, either make him a creepy fedora-clad 'Nice Guy(TM)' that pesters one of the protagonists and swears eternal vengeance upon being rejected, and/or make him a rival to Kevin.
Speaking of which, the special effects and photography are great, but the movie falls flat in its depiction of the ghosts, a few of them are very neat but most of them just look like generic raggedy wraiths with glowing eyes, a far cry from the cartoonish but still threatening horrors of the originals and especially the two cartoon series, and it's especially infuriating because the artists actually DID propose a lot of cool designs for them.
Female fans deserve better
This movie is bad, but contrary to the screeching from the redditchan oxygen-wasting dudebros on the internet, it's not because it has women in it or because of some '[insert half a dozen alt-right dogwhistles]' conspiracy to destroy the american male, it's simply because it's mediocre at best, it's not badly written or directed but it's a constant waste of potential.
On the side of the characters, Holtzmann is a treasure and possibly the best character in the movie, with all of her wacky Gyro Gearloose-esque antics she works great as a successor to Egon; Erin works well as the 'only sane woman' and the gags about her thirsting after Kevin are funny(at first); Patty is passable and has some nice one-liners, but feels really like Leslie Jones got the shaft since the one protagonist of color is the only one without a Ph D and a stereotypical sassy black woman to boot, Chris Hemsworth does his best at making his character Kevin funny and sometimes works(because he is a master at playing 'lovable jock' characters) but some of his gags feel way too forced; Abby is not a creepy narcissistic asshole like Peter but...is just boring, and Hollywood should really stop pushing this narrative that Melissa Mccarthy is funny, they should have cast some actress that can actually do comedy like Anna Faris or Regina Hall.
As for the villain, it was another case of wasted potential: resentful socially akward losers with a victim complex are great villain material that should be used more often, just look at Baxter Stockman or Hal Stewart/Tighten, but he should have needed more characterization, and it would have been easy, either make him a creepy fedora-clad 'Nice Guy(TM)' that pesters one of the protagonists and swears eternal vengeance upon being rejected, and/or make him a rival to Kevin.
Speaking of which, the special effects and photography are great, but the movie falls flat in its depiction of the ghosts, a few of them are very neat but most of them just look like generic raggedy wraiths with glowing eyes, a far cry from the cartoonish but still threatening horrors of the originals and especially the two cartoon series, and it's especially infuriating because the artists actually DID propose a lot of cool designs for them.