Silly Fun

Rating: 5/10 (1 January 2006)

This movie about three university professors of parapsychology who open their own ghost-hunting business after being turfed by the university isn't the greatest comedy I've ever come across. To be honest it isn't even close. But it is a fun little movie, if a little bit over-rated, featuring a solid cast and a good story.
Everyone does a good job of treating the material seriously enough to make this funny, and pretty much everyone (with the possible exception of Rick Moranis) seems to be playing this "straight." I suppose one of the weaknesses I see with this movie is just that - everyone's too much of a "straight man." The end result was that I smiled a lot during the movie, and chuckled a few times, but never really burst out laughing at anything.
The major stars (Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Dan Aykroyd, etc.) all moved on to other projects over the ensuing years and, in my opinion, to better performances as well. If that sounds like a criticism, it really isn't. They were all fine in "Ghostbusters." It's just that I think their better performances were ahead of them. The one exception might be Moranis, who I mentioned earlier. He is very funny here as the geeky accountant Louis Tully, who is infatuated with Weaver's Dana Barrett, but is also frustrated that she doesn't return his feelings, until, of course, the two get together in the spirit world. Moranis, I think, did some of his best work here. Unfortunately, it was in a limited role.
It's a pleasant movie to watch and there's nothing particularly wrong with it. It just didn't blow me away, which is why I give it a 5. In my view, it's a very average comedy.