Overrated

First of all. I rate Ghostbusters very highly. Mainly from a nostalgic point of view. It knocked my socks off going to see it as a kid in 84. The cast are great. Ramis's performance is actually very underrated in my opinion. He had always acknowledged that performing wasn't his strong suit, but I think he's never been better than as Egon. Dan Aykroyd plays himself. But that is perfect for the movie since Dan is a true believer in the supernatural. It actually sticks out a bit when he lays it on too thick with the goofiness. Murray is fine too. He fits perfectly into the trifecta as the charlatan dodger. Much better than he integrates with the rest of the casts in Stripes or Caddyshack. It's far from peak Murray but it's just right for the movie. Edlund and produced some great special effects images that hadn't been seen before or bettered since. And Elmer Bernstein's score is spot on.

But man. The way some people put this movie on a pedestal is absurd. The idea that this movie was conceived and developed by people aiming to properly set up a prestigious franchise and universe, following all the required practices and reaching for the high standards of game changing movie making. Gimme a break. No! Get real.

It was a bunch of guys hot from their successes in the trend of college / Second city via SNL improv comedy. (A bunch of "pinko"s too. Rather like the cast/crew of GB2016 who we're told are the type of people who should never have been allowed to make a ghostbusters movie...) trying to make something that works in the zeitgeist of comedy at that time. Take a look at the aforementioned Stripes. It's crap. Funny at the time. But not to anyone attempting to take it seriously the way fans take GB1984 seriously. But this was the market GB1984 was aiming for. Comedies at that time were Police Academy. Released a month before Ghostbusters. It has a comedy blowjob. Lo and behold, Ghostbusters has a comedy blowjob. They weren't reinventing the wheel. They were giving the same wheel another spin.

The key difference is that GB1984 got a ton of money thrown at it so they could hire Weaver and Boss films made their whacky, yet stock, going into business joke, look like Return Of The Jedi. They had an audience ready to have some laughs in between gasping at the pyrotechnics.