Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)
Somethin’ strange in the neighborhood. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! Anyone get the song in their head? Sorry. Anyway, I saw Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire this week and while it’s a ton of fun, I still have thoughts. Obviously.
The movie has a lot of the same characters as Afterlife, except that everyone’s older, crankier, and wanting independence. Especially Phoebe, who’s been told she’s too young to be a Ghostbuster and has to stand down. Phoebe, who’s the female version of her grandpa Egon, does a lot of sulking but not much sitting still, and takes to playing chess in Central Park, where she meets a ghost named Melody.
Speaking of not sitting still, the remaining original Ghostbusters are deep into other pursuits. Ray runs a curio shop and records a podcast, although he keeps forgetting to tell listeners to like and subscribe. Winston is filthy rich. Peter is apparently still teaching.
Nothing stays quiet, of course. A guy named Nadeem comes into Ray’s curio shop looking to sell some of his grandma’s stuff, and one object is a mysterious orb that contains a fearsome demon that once froze New York City in the middle of July.
We can all guess what happens next. Plenty. I won’t spoil too much, because I’m going to give the newest Ghostbusters installment at least that much dignity.
Actually, it’s kind of hard to spoil anything, because Frozen Empire is a very messy movie. It takes a long time to get going and it’s got too many characters and way too many subplots. The last part gets ridiculously crazy.
The thing I kept thinking after I’d shed my post-movie afterglow was it felt as if Frozen Empire was looking for a plot. The movie could have centered around Phoebe and Melody and Phoebe trying to convince the other Ghostbusters not to add Melody to their cache of spirits. Or they could have stuck to the weird orb thing and developed that some more. Nadeem is a pretty open-mouth-insert-foot kind of character who’s funny most of the time, but in the end doesn’t really need to be there except for the fact that he’s trying to profit off of his grandma’s stuff. The Frozen Empire bit is pretty underdone as well; anyone expecting a Day After Tomorrow-type of scenario is not going to find it. The eventual outcome is not as bleak as it’s made out to be, either, but I can’t go into that without ruining what plot does exist.
Even the fanserve feels half-baked. Ray and Winston are pretty natural to the film, but Peter just shows up with this “Hey guys, what did I miss?” look to him. He doesn’t have nearly enough to do although he does get to make some trademark Bill Murray wisecracks that, knowing these seasoned comics, were probably ad-libbed.
The sum total of the movie left me feeling as if I’d been slimed with Ectoplasm. It wasn’t terrible, but it was a bit hard to get off. I may have to re-watch the original Ghostbusters to make sure I’m really cleansed.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is currently in theaters. Rated PG-13.
My grade: C+
Principal Cast: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, McKenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Celeste O’Connor, Logan Kim, Emily Alyn Lind, James Acaster, Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Shelley Williams, Chris Tummings, John Rothman.
Directed by Gil Kenan.
Written by Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman, Ivan Reitman.