If You Can Catch This One on the Big screen...DO!

Rating: 10/10 (8 May 2005)

To be sure,this film is a modern comedy classic no mater what medium you see see it on. BUt my first viewing of this was on the big screen,and it was breathtaking! Perhaps the memories of my youth have dolled this experience up,but I still feel like you get the full effect of the special effects and music of this picture when you see it on large screen. I was twelve when "Ghostbusters" stormed through theaters,breaking box office records for a comedy,and if I didn't already have some sense of admiration for the comedic talents of Bill Murray,Dan Aykroyd,Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis before this movie,I would after.
In case you are not familiar with the story,here goes: Three paranormal professors(Murray,Aykroyd and Ramis) are kicked out of their cushy,tenured jobs at a prestigious New York college(NYU?) and decide to go into business as paranormal investigators and erstwhile ghost hunters. They always seem to be close to but never quite able to capture,evidence of the supernatural around New York. That changes when they become the successful,"last avenue" answer to corralling a rather nasty ghoul who is creating havoc in a swanky four-star hotel(The Waldorf?). This leads to a string of successful "Ghost busting" all over the region, and it leads them back into the life of one concert musician(Sigourney Weaver,in her first chance to flex her comedic muscle)who happens to be siting on top of a particularly awesome din of supernatural activity on the loom. Rick Moranis steals his scenes as the dweeby accountant neighbor of Weaver's,and Ernie Hudson joins on near the end as a no-nonsense guy who believes in the Ghostbusters' mission,in spite of his better instincts.
Rounding out the cast are Annie Potts(pre-Designing Women)as the dryly unenthused secretary and William Atherton as the weasly EPA rep and ostensible villain here(an 80s era dig). Director Ivan Reitman,while somewhat of an inconsistent filmmaker("Stripes","Twins","DAve" and "Junior"),is very deft and clever in balancing effects and eye-candy with comedy,keeping the film both light AND powerful.
I realize that films that have been around as long as "Ghostbusters"(which will turn twenty-one this June,if you're counting) rarely get to see the insides of movie theaters anymore,but if by some chance you're at a movie festival or college campus that is showing this on the large screen,I highly recommend you go catch it!