Slime Gentlemen Please!

Rating: 7/10 (8 December 2019)

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters is a comedic science fiction movie where you have to suspend reality in order to enjoy it.
Three PHDs Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Dr. Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) and Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) are working at Columbia University in New York on parapsychology phenomina. The University cancels their grant for lack of results and the boys are suddenly out of work. Peter suggests that they go into business for themselves.
Ray mortgages his parents house (three mortgages are not uncommon these days) and they set up shop in an abandoned firehouse. They name the business "Ghostbusters" with the aim of ridding New Yorkers of scary ghosts. They "invent" complex scientific equipment that includes zappers and ghost traps, hire the spunky Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts) as their receptionist/secretary and await their first customer.
Their first call comes from the library where the librarian has encountered a netherworld spirit. The boys arrive and meet up with a cartoonish spirit known as "Slimer" who slime all who encounter him. They go next to a large hotel where "Slimer" turns up on the 12th floor haunting the establishment's plush conference suite. The boys manage to trap "Slimer" with their zappers and place him in a containment device.
Next we meet the alluring Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) who discovers paranormal activity within her refrigerator. Her nerdy neighbor Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) tries unsuccessfully to date her. She goes to the Ghostbusters for help. Peter "volunteers" to help her.
Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) then joins the team. In the course of their investigation Ray discovers that Dana's apartment building was constructed by and evil force known "Gogen" and that the spirits contained within are planning a comeback. Dana and Louis become possessed by the spirits to become the Gatekeeper and Key master respectively. Peter is mesmerized by Dana in her possessed state.
The four Ghostbusters then lock and load and confront the evil Gogen who then thrusts the Marshmallow Man upon humanity and....................................
The performances of the principals lift this film above the level of a Saturday Morning cartoon. It's hard though to take Bill Murray's character seriously as scientist. His constant smirk hardly indicates serious intent. Aykroyd and Ramis play their roles more to the point. Annie Potts almost steals the film as the brash secretary. And Sigourney Weaver never looked more sexy than she does as the possessed Dana. Rick Moranis is quite funny as the nerdy neighbor who continuously keeps locking himself out of his apartment. And poor Ernie Hudson. He hardly has anything of note to do after arriving late in the story.
Followed by "Ghostbusters II" (1989) as we knew it would.