Anthony Stokes on why a Paul Feig-directed all-female Ghostbusters is a bad idea…
Let’s be honest… Ghostbusters hasn’t been good since the original movie. Ghostbusters II is the poster child for subpar mediocre sequels and there’s been talks for years about doing a third movie. My ears perked up when it was rumored Phil Lord and Chris Miller (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) would be directing, but since then Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat) has signed on to helm an all-female reboot of the franchise. In my opinion, this is a bad idea.
I’ve noticed a string of projects that seem to be getting praised for no other real reason than having a mostly female cast. Orange Is the New Black’s second season was significantly weaker than the first, but it still got the same amount of praise, if not more so. Bridesmaids is just your typical C-level Judd Apatow comedy, but it somehow got two Oscar nominations. Girls, Frozen, American Horror Story: Coven and many others get a huge pat on the back for doing something that should be done anyway. And don’t get me wrong, none of thes are bad – they’re just not masterpieces.
Paul Feig has made a career of making average movies with female leads. Nothing wrong with that – in fact I applaud him for it. But my problem is that this comes more from a place of lack of creativity. I think if you give Feig a male lead he wouldn’t know what to do with himself. And there’s the matter of riding the gimmick of having an all female cast instead of making something good. I don’t mind if this was an organic decision, but it seems forced, especially with a Ghostbusters III having been in development for so long.
This is not about gender – if Tyler Perry signed on to direct a Goonies remake with an all black cast I’d make the same argument. If Sony gets a good script for a Ghostbusters which has mostly female characters, I’m all for it. Why not? There’s honestly not enough of those and they do extremely well at the box office. But if this is just some desperate attempt to get people interested in the film then no, I’m not interested. Time will tell, but at this point I can’t see Paul Feig-directed all-female Ghostbusters reboot bringing this franchise back to where it once was.
How do you feel about an all-female Ghostbusters reboot? Let us know your thoughts…
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker who also hosts the podcast Delusional Losers.
Originally published October 14, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
