‘Ghostbusters’ Stars Take Shot At Sexist Haters – But Is The Film Actually Any Good?

The Ghostbusters movie featuring A-list stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy finally hits theaters this week after months of intense scrutiny aimed at the all-female reboot. And while many have cried “sexism” with the amount of hate directed its way before a single frame had been viewed, the cast, along with director Paul Feig seemed to take all the venom in stride.

In fact, as reported by Yahoo UK, the cast even took some shots at the internet trolls and haters through an ad-libbed scene in the movie itself.

“It was added [to the script],” Melissa McCarthy who plays paranormal investigator Abby Yates explained about the scene in which the four female heroines post their exploits to YouTube and gasp at the user comments.

“But we changed what was said,” Kristen Wiig said in the interview.

“We did something on the day that slightly tweaked it,” McCarthy added noting the actresses were fully aware of the venom directed toward the film as soon as the reboot was announced and improvised dialogue to reflect awareness in the scene.

As mentioned previously, any critic who had issues with the trailers to this point were labeled misogynists and sexists. Roger Weisman of the Huffington Post wrote about the fact that he felt he wasn’t allowed not to like it for fear of that very label being cast upon him.

“I wanted to like it. I really did,” he wrote. “I was cautious in my pessimism. I didn’t want to lumped in with the myriad of voices that were opposed to it for reasons that were petty and sexist.”

But he also argued that upon seeing the trailer, in the end, it just didn’t look very good.

“Is there a reason that they had to stick to the same number of Ghostbusters and the same racial demographics? Not to mention the fact that, once again, the black character is the non-scientist who is rough around the edges. I mean, I love Leslie Jones and her aggressive brand of humor, and it pleases me to see her getting into bigger film roles, but am I the only one who finds this a little cheap, if not blatantly racist?”

Then there was Ghostbusters director Paul Feig himself who went on the offensive recently while promoting the movie to call out the haters, as reported by South China Morning News.

“You can understand my frustration,” Feig said, speaking from a tour in Europe where he says audiences are loving the pre-release film screenings. “I’m trying to make a comedy movie that will make people happy and have fun. And it’s turned into the biggest political screed and mess because of a few people who are screaming loudly on the internet. It’s all very frustrating.”

But while pre-screeners and trailers are all good, the proof is now in the critical pudding as movie critics have had the chance to screen the actual movie. So far, the reviews have been mixed to generally favorable.

The New York Times, for example, gave the film rave reviews. “It’s at once satisfyingly familiar and satisfyingly different,” critic Manhola Dargis wrote, “kind of like a new production of ‘Macbeth’ or a Christopher Nolan rethink of Batman.”

Ditto for 9News, the Colorado NBC affiliate, praised the film for its originality.

“The reboot, while hewing within the franchise, does its own thing — take the climax, which, without spoiling too much, is more Ant-Man or Big Hero 6 than anything that happened in the 1984 original.”

But for every positive review or critique, there are invariably those who aren’t afraid to be labeled a sexist to provide their honest feedback of the experience. The Chicago Sun Times critic, for example, called the film a “horrifying mess” while the NY Daily News simply labeled Ghostbusters “unfunny.”

What do you think? Is Ghostbusters actually any good or is it impossible to have an unbiased opinion because of all the haters?

[Image via Columbia Pictures]