Of all the new-generation Ghostbusters outings, this latest Manhattan-set romp seems closest to the original film, both in story and tone – Bill Murray returns in a cameo, but his trademark wisecracking snark is evident throughout, with Patton Oswalt’s enthusiastically morbid librarian especially notable. The plot is pretty much a cut-and-paste duplication of the original film. A grand evil is unleashed, in this case an ancient, horned ghost-god; a dimensional rift threatens the very fabric of civilisation. The denouement hangs on an unwitting normie, Nadeem (Kumail Nanjiani), who inadvertently finds his occult destiny while hunting for Pop-Tarts in his late grandmother’s apartment.
Of the youthful cast from the previous instalment, Mckenna Grace is given the most to do, and delivers an interesting, angular take on the adolescent outsider archetype. Finn Wolfhard, however, is underused and spends much of the picture drifting haplessly, all limp noodle limbs and floppy hair, like someone who can’t quite remember where he left his weed vape. It’s not unenjoyable, just deeply unoriginal.
