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They Ain't Afraid of No Bros

It's been a long and tortured path to the screen for the reboot of "Ghostbusters." When it was announced they were rebooting the 1984 Ivan Reitman film, the Internet exploded in a fit of fanboy fury. It got ugly. It still kind of is.

It's understandable to not want a film that one holds near and dear to be touched. Did Gus Van Sant really think it was a great idea to remake "Psycho"? But the vitriol wasn't even about that. Once it was announced that the cast would be all-female, fans went to dark places. My hope for the 2016 "Ghostbusters" was that it would be great and silence all of the petty chatter that has clogged the forums and message boards for months.

Unfortunately, "Ghostbusters" isn't great. It's silly, it's stupid, it's fun in spurts. It's just fine. Director Paul Feig has made some of the best comedies in recent years, so we have grown to want more than "just fine" from him.

Kristen Wiig stars as Erin Gilbert. She is a professor on the track to tenure when some of her past work comes back to haunt her and derail her credibility. She spent her younger years with her friend Abby (Melissa McCarthy) trying to prove the validity of paranormal activity. They even wrote a book about the topic, which Erin was certain would never see the light of day again.

Once she finds out Abby has been selling the book on Amazon, she is forced to confront her old friend, who she hasn't seen in some time. While Erin has made a career in academia, Abby continues to work with the paranormal. Erin has become a skeptic since she and Abby wrote their book.

Abby has teamed up with Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), a weird and wacky nuclear engineer, who works with Abby in the lab. Erin accompanies them to an old mansion with reported ghost sightings and quickly finds herself believing again.

With more and more reports of ghosts, the trio form their Ghostbusters business. Along the way, they pick up MTA worker Patty (Leslie Jones), who rounds out their quartet. To field all of their calls, they hire the hunky and dumb Kevin (Chris Hemsworth, who should really do more comedies and less "Thor").

"Ghostbusters" has a silly vibe and never takes itself too seriously, which is key. Wiig, McCarthy, McKinnon and Jones are having a blast together and play off of each other well. We've grown to know and appreciate what Wiig and McCarthy can do. McKinnon, an amped-up ball of strange energy, has the take notice role, which should put more eyes her. Sadly, Jones doesn't fare as well as the others. She is just there to scream. A lot.

Feig and co-writer Katie Dippold's script is what holds "Ghostbusters" back from being truly great. It takes about an hour to establish any form of a plot and once they do get into it, it isn't as interesting as watching the actors play off of each other. The ghostbusting ultimately feels tacked-on.

"Ghostbusters" has been mistakenly made out to be some rallying cry for feminism by the boys who can't play nice in the sandbox. That's not what Feig is trying to accomplish here. Like any other director, he has found his muse in McCarthy and knows how to create roles for women outside of the expected Hollywood norm. It's not a statement, he just knows what works for him. It's a shame he couldn't have written a better screenplay for his actresses, as he has done in the past.