Loved it as a kid? You might still like it today.

Rating: 6/10 (28 August 2006)

Ghost Busters is one of those movies which when you were ten years old seemed like the greatest thing you'd ever seen and when you are thirty years old you wonder what all the fuss was about. It's certainly not by any means a bad movie but in retrospect it's not by any means a great movie either. It's a charming, but only intermittently funny, comedy with some jazzy (at least for 1984) special effects thrown in to liven up the proceedings.
The plot of this movie is a rather simple one. New York City has a problem with ghosts and three scientists form a ghost-catching company. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis play the three original ghost busters with Ernie Hudson joining up later. Murray is undoubtedly the star. His character of Peter Venkman gets most of the best lines and as you would expect Murray delivers them brilliantly. Aykroyd and Ramis are fine in their roles but they'll never outshine Murray who is terrific whether delivering some sly, understated humor or being completely over the top and totally off the wall. Annie Potts as the Ghost Busters' receptionist, Sigourney Weaver as Venkman's potential love interest and Rick Moranis as Weaver's exceptionally nerdy neighbor round out the principal cast. Moranis in particular has some choice comic moments and his character of Louis probably trails only Murray's Venkman in the laughs department.
With its solid cast and plenty of subtle, witty dialogue the movie has a lot going for it. And there are some rather exciting, and sometimes amusing confrontations between the ghosts and the Ghost Busters. The movie certainly has its moments but there are too many instances where the film just kind of sits there and the story struggles to move forward. But there is ultimately a great payoff in the end with an undeniably brilliant final scene. If you expect an all-time comedy classic you may well be disappointed but if your expectations are a touch more realistic you will find that Ghost Busters is a reasonably enjoyable film and that's not so bad.