The main premise for this article is to describe the Personal-a-Teas types which make up the new Ghostbusting Team. So, here you go, on with the analysis…
1. Melissa McCarthy – Abby Yates
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Abby Yates is the defacto ‘leader’ of the Ghostbusters Team. She obtains this accolade by being the one who has truly believed in the presence of the paranormal ectoplasmic entities knocking around New York, for more than 30 years. She simply just didn’t have any hard-evidence to prove her convictions. She is steadfast, resolute, dedicated and unyielding in this belief. She co-wrote a book with her soon to be reunited academic friend, Erin Gilbert. However, as we will mention later, Gilbert didn’t have the same faith in her supernatural tome, and a parting of their friendship was inevitable as their respective career paths deviated apart.
Abby is also the organiser of the group (at times like David Brent with somewhat increased awareness), the one best placed to ‘call the shots’ (‘Let’s Go!’…oh!), and the epicentre for all activities of the team (including test-driving and then being taken for a ride by an out of control proton blaster). McCarthy, at times, carries the movie itself through the chaotic storyline. For these reasons, her Personal-a-Teas character is definitely team-leading ethos Loose Leaf Tea.
2. Kristen Wiig – Erin Gilbert
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Erin Gilbert is a career driven academic, all set for the accolade of being accepted for tenure as physics teacher in her university. In her past, she had co-written a thesis on the paranormal and supernatural (Ghosts from our Past, Both Literally and Figuratively, The Study of the Paranormal) with her then pal Abby Yates. Erin is a traditional, reserved type character and like her friend Abby, she stayed away from ‘the social scene’ throughout her college years. She is also indecisive and certainly yearning for romance. Her attraction to the beefcake, overly ‘stupid’ receptionist, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) is a continuous source for slapstick gags. She is certainly not cheeky nor ‘bubbly’ rather, sincere and empathetic. Her one-liner, describing exactly where her shower of bodily ectoplasm went, is a particular highlight of the movie. Erin’s loyalty shines through in the dramatic finale as she refuses to leave her team-leader behind plasmonic ‘enemy lines’. These overlying characteristics enable us to conclude that Erin Gilbert has a Nostalgic Latte type ‘Personal-a-Tea’.
3. Kate McKinnon – Jillian Holtzmann
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Holtzmann is the technology guru of the Ghostbusters Team. The character played by Kate McKinnon at times is uber-cool, super-sassy and nauseously-intellectual. She moves about the screen with gestures akin to Bono in mid-concert flow. Her performance during the apocalyptic battle of Times Square is akin to Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. These contemporary arrogant characteristics do not register on our Personal-a-Teas avatar for Holtzmann. We do however, appreciate her creativity with technology. Some of the weaponry she brings to the preverbal table would make MacGyver nod with quantum-physical appreciation. The proto-grenade is a particular favourite. Her scientific nature serves to emphasise her curious, investigative personality. Her over-confidence ensures she is quick-witted, and a fun character at heart (as demonstrated by her mannequin impersonating antics in the trailer below). She is also certainly a multi-tasker in her endeavours, thus making her a Digital Light Cappuccina ‘Personal-a-Tea’.
4. Leslie Jones – Patty Tolan
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Patty Tolan ‘gate-crashed’ her way onto the Ghostbusters Team. In fact, she exuded her resourcefulness and her pragmatism in being able to provide both transport (the ECTO 1, a nuclear-pimped hearse commandeered from her uncle’s funeral home) and her wide-ranging knowledge of the ‘City That Never Sleeps’. Her stand out qualities through the course of the movie include her physical strength, strong enough to hold a dragon-like spectre on her back and walk it slowly through the mosh-pit of an Ozzy-cameoed heavy metal gig, and most striking (literally) her ‘exorcism’ of the briefly possessed Abby. This scene also showed her reverential qualities, as she bellows: ‘The power of Patty compels you…’ Her commitment to joining and contributing to the Ghostbusters Team ensure Patty is a Nostalgic Loose Leaf Tea – type.
Overall, the Ghostbusters reboot was a mild movie. Mild in every sense. It’s a movie which fails to dismay, but it also fails to enthral. All the ingredients for a ‘4-star movie’ were already in place e.g. a well-loved franchise, nostalgia, the opportunity ‘to put a new spin on it’, and the heavy-weight comedic actresses, themselves. In answer to the gender based question at the top of the article, the brave decision undertaken by Paul Feig the director was worth taking. The ‘new’ team blended well together, essentially being a female mirror image of their male counterparts from the original. Feig however, failed to push the gender boundaries enough. The ‘team’ felt somewhat contrived, although the attack upon the male ghostly genitalia towards the end of the movie is sure to raise a wry smile from females in the audience.
The major positive from the movie was McCarthy, who stood above the rest in her performance throughout. She is at the pinnacle of her career (The Heat, Spy) and it shows in the confidence she holds in the role as Abby Yates. This positivity was sprinkled with some nice one-liners, and a very encouraging start of the movie. However, as the movie continues, the ongoing gags become less and less funny, the use of cameos were excessive in a cosmetic, aesthetic way. The plot-line doesn’t capture, nor hold the attention, the shape-shifting possessing nemesis is too convoluted and the finale felt concocted on the back of an envelope.
Is the movie worth going to see? If you have time to spare, and up for a hint (only a hint) of nostalgic amusement, then why not. Overall, the Ghostbusters reboot was a missed opportunity.
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