We all know the theme song. Society has long been ingraining it into our heads since forever. And no matter where you stand on the Ray Parker Jr./Huey Lewis debate, we can all say that, when it comes to Ghostbusters, the good looks don't outweigh what's on the inside. The film, even today, is as fun a movie as ever. It's a microcosm of the era--perhaps not as much as Back to the Future was a year later, but in 1984, the decade was just about forming into itself.
The film follows a group of perverse scientists who have long been trying to uncover the world of the supernatural. After ominous events start happening and their radical ideas get them fired from the University which they work at, they form their own business as ghostbusters.
Even though it works, Dan Aykroyd is slightly underutilized here. He and Harold Ramis serve very little purpose as either straight man or top banana. But Bill Murray and Rick Moranis prove to play the funny guys well enough.
Murray was the king back then. He could say or do whatever he wanted without outshining any of his costars or commandeering a film. What he does so well is give the audience both broad and subtle humor, letting them chose for themselves. And he's at his best here. Moranis is phenomenal as well--although he doesn't get nearly enough screen time. He and Murray stay comedically brilliant without ever having to step on each other's toes.
It doesn't hold up quite as well as some of its contemporaries, but it gets better with every watch.
It can be slow intermittently, but that's just a sign of the times. Slightly dated, sure, but Ghostbusters still gets the job done.
Twizard Rating: 93
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