Who You Gonna Call? A Ghostbusters Review/Love Letter to Kate McKinnon

“Ain’t no bitches gonna hunt no ghosts.” 

Let me start this off with a confession: I haven’t seen the original Ghostbusters (although this should come as a surprise to no one if you’ve read the first post in my Catching Up with the Classics series). That being said, when I was in the cinema watching the movie, I couldn’t confirm if the film was actually a portal through time, taking men back to when they were children in order to “ruin their childhood” (everyone in the cinema seemed to be accounted for). Which is partially what inspiring that the quote above, a YouTube comment read by Kristen Wiig’s character Erin Gilbert in response to their video. Melissa McCarthy’s Abby Yates dismissal of this comment, sums up the filmmaker’s attitude to the men who think a movie cannot be funny or smart with female leads.

And this movie is funny, although what else do you expect from a film where the leads are four of the funniest women in comedy right now. Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig as paranormal researcher Abby Yates and physicist Erin Gilbert respectively are wonderful as always, as they navigate their characters’ friendship which is originally broken when Abby denies her paranormal investigating past in order to appear more professional (side note: I was pleased at this point to note that Charles Dance has a small role in this film, as he is a wonderful treasure of a man and I firmly believe that he should appear at least once in everything).

Leslie Jones, who plays Patty Tolan, a subway worker who knows the ins and out of the city, is also a pure comedic delight as always (if you’ve seen her on SNL you’ll be aware of her comedic skills). But it’s Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann, the engineer of the group’s many ghost hunting gadgets that is the breakout star of this movie.

That is to say, I walked into this movie very attracted to Chris Hemsworth (who plays the group’s dim, but very pretty receptionist, Kevin). With his arms and adorable accent, can you blame me?

But I walked out of the cinema, well, still attracted to Chris Hemsworth, but even more attracted to Kate McKinnon. Her character, Holtzmann, is easily the best part of the movie, despite having the least amount of substance or backstory, other than being the “mad scientist”. McKinnon shines on screen, she brings a lovable craziness to the character, who is by far the most enthusiastic member of the team, and does it so well that you aren’t sure if she’s improvising* everything as she goes along. And then, along with this energy that makes it impossible to look away from her in any scene, there are moments like this, that made you fall in love (and lust) with her:

If you’re a regular (or even occasional) Saturday Night Live watcher, you would have seen McKinnon on screen. In my opinion, she is one of the best cast members, bringing the most to any scene, whether it’s her spot on impressions, or just her unhinged comedic acting skills – she is always a delight to watch. SNL is an excellent start for McKinnon, she shines in it, but in blockbusters like this is where she truly deserves to be. McKinnon was made for the big screen – she inhabits it and takes over every scene with ease. There is no doubt that this is just the beginning of a successful movie career.

I must admit that I tweeted earlier that I was afraid that this review was going turn into a long fan fiction piece, long the lines of me being the gun she licks in earlier GIF, but as I’m trying to keep things somewhat above the belt, I’ll just say that Kate McKinnon is an absolute treasure and needs to be in more things and also Kate if you’re reading this my boyfriend is totally okay with us hooking up just fyi.

Thinking about writing a piece on Ghostbusters for @btglifestyle but I'm afraid it's going to end up as lesbian fan fic about Kate McKinnon

— silver vixen (@eimaj_j) August 19, 2016

But to get back to my thoughts on the film: overall, its fun and enjoyable, and a great way to wind down and escape from life for a bit. If you’re looking for some laughs, I recommend giving it a go. I’ll probably give this another watch myself, but mostly just to take in McKinnon’s superb performance again.

*I accidentally typed “improving” instead of “improvising” which also works, as I can confirm that McKinnon does, in fact, improve every scene she’s in.

Check out the Ghostbusters trailer below:

For more awesomeness, you can follow Jamie on Twitter @eimaj_j and on Vine (JaimeCette), or check out herblog, J’aime Cette.

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