‘Ghostbusters’ Wins Critics’ Raves for Laughs and Camaraderie

But some are finding the popcorn flick’s ending to be predictable and too crammed with special effects

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The critics are talking about Sony’s much discussed all-female led “Ghostbusters” movie.

With a solid Metacritic score of 62 so far and a “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes ranking that is now 76 percent, reviewers generally think the reboot directed by Paul Feig is A-OK.

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon as the titular New York City-based ghostbusting team, the film revolves around a whole new haunt that threatens to raise hell all over the Big Apple as the ladies gear up to fight a growing number of dangerous apparitions.

But for all the praise citing laugh-out-loud jokes and affable onscreen camaraderie, there are also jeers for a predictable, overly effects-laden climax.

The overriding consensus is that the women-led reboot is a satisfying summer popcorn flick.

Some critics addressed a vocal group of purported “Ghostbusters” purists who campaigned against the film on social media as the movie was being made. Much of the vitriol had sexist and racial overtones, which at one point left Leslie Jones to wonder aloud if she was going to quit Twitter altogether.

Luckily she didn’t. And, by the way, she gets some of the biggest laughs in the movie. To borrow from a line from the film: Suck it, trolls!

Moreover, purists should be pleased by cameos from ghosts of “Ghostbusters” past, including the previously announced Bill Murray. (But we won’t spoil it further.)

“Ghostbusters” opens on Friday (July 15) and with reviews still rolling in, scores could shift a bit.

Here are the highlights:

Manohla Dargis, New York Times:
“It’s a lot like the old ‘Ghostbusters,’ except that it stars four funny women instead of, you know, four funny men. In other words, it doesn’t have a lot of XY chromosomes and basso profondo voices, though its token hottie, played by a game, nimbly funny Chris Hemsworth, pulls his weight on both those counts. Otherwise, the redo is pretty much what you might expect from Paul Feig, one of the best things to happen to American big-screen comedy since Harold Ramis.”

Stephanie Zacharek, Time:
“The movie glows with vitality, thanks largely to the performers, who revel in one another’s company.”

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger:
“…never bad enough to warrant the chauvinist hatred, rarely good enough to deserve the feminist support.”

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly:
“With a cast as daring and quick as this one, Ghostbusters is too mild and plays it too safe.”

Robert Abele, TheWrap:
“These women are a true democratic caucus of funny. That leaves the aforementioned bloat — CGI bigness and the current vogue for drawn-out showdowns — the only nagging glitch, although it’s all slickly rendered by the visual effects team.”

Alison Willmore, BuzzFeed:
“Jones, McCarthy, McKinnon, and Wiig are so good together – and in ways that are distinctively theirs and not recycled from the past – that their message of not giving a damn resonates better than the movie’s underwhelming climax.”

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice:
“There is an easy camaraderie and chemistry among the central quartet, a harmony that continues when Chris Hemsworth, charmingly stupid, enters as the phantom-vanquishing squad’s receptionist. Yet the main performers rarely get to display their individual idiosyncratic strengths.”

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