CAPSULE: Ghostbusters (2016, Dir. Paul Feig)

Four women dressed in tan jumpsuits queef in the face of your inner '80s child for two hours while aligning their menstrual cycles and saving New York City from a paranormal onslaught.

Be warned, if you're putting your inner '80s child out for queefing (and you don't have to because, you know, you'll still have your original Ghostbusters to go cry-wank over), she/he/it will most probably be blown away by Paul Feig's cultural fanny fart. There is a lot of fun to be had in there (with the wind rushing through your hair).

The women, Erin (Kristen Wiig), Abby (Melissa McCarthy), Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon) and Patty (Leslie Jones) do a slap up job within the bounds of Feig's framework. The jokes fly relentlessly and the hit rate is admirably high (I'd give it about a 4:1). Special mention goes out to McKinnon, who gets all break-out star in her tech-head with an ovary-slamming arsenal role (she's the one licking the guns in the trailer).

Outside the performances and the jokes and the special effects though (all solid), I do have issues. The film's considerable weakness is that, despite paying homage to its source material with liberal cameos, the whole thing feels more like a partner to Feig's other films (Spy, Bridesmaids and The Heat) than Ghostbusters. In between the laughter, if you can catch your breath, it's too easy to see behind the window dressing (something facilitated by the choppy editing). The guts of Feig's film, written with his usual collaborator and 'Parks and Recreation' alumnus, Katie Dippold, has little dramatic momentum. Their life-slighted nerd-man villain, though thematically on point, underwhelms in the hands of Neil Casey and there's no structural menace to bring focus behind him. This becomes a problem as everyone to hand tries to pull off a spectacular finale and end up dithering around purposelessly shooting at CGI with no discernible tension.

But funny.

Look, it is a remake. It is a blockbuster. And it about as entertaining as any remake blockbuster out there at the moment. The fine performances and bang-up special effects justify its existence and there's sure to be more life in this rebooted franchise than the execrable sequel the first iteration threw up (yeah, I noticed no man-babies have been bringing that steamer up in all their pre-hate).

At least we know who we're gonna call now.

(Oh, no he didn't!)

★★★

Trailer: