Forgotten 'Ghostbusters 2' worth a second look as remake hits theaters
“Hairless pets: Weird!”
“We had part of a Slinky, but I straightened it.”
“So you wanna play Boggle, or ‘Super Mario Bros.'?”
These quips are from a not-so-beloved movie starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson — “Ghostbusters 2,” the mostly forgotten 1989 sequel to Ivan Reitman's classic comedy, and the theatrical precursor to this weekend's remake starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.
“Ghostbusters 2” opened in June 1989 to a mostly indifferent critical reaction — its Rotten Tomatoes score is measured today at an even 50 percent — and a solid, unremarkable $29 million opening weekend. It petered out at a $112 million domestic gross, $130 million less than its predecessor. Adjusted for inflation, 1984's “Ghostbusters” was a Marshmallow Man-sized hit, bringing in today's equivalent of $610 million. That puts it millions ahead of this year's biggest hits, “Finding Dory” and “Captain America: Civil War.”
Aside from afternoon showings on Comedy Central, “Ghostbusters 2” has left little impact on the pop culture landscape. Its script is content to rehash memorable bits from the first movie, it's photographed like a TV commercial, and it drags on for far too long.
But “Ghostbusters 2” has its charms, beginning with a wonderfully off-the-wall performance by Peter MacNicol (“Ally McBeal”) as Janosz Poha, an art expert of ambiguous heritage who does the bidding of the evil tyrant Vigo the Carpathian. As a villainous foil, Janosz is far sillier than the original's Walter Peck (William Atherton), but MacNicol lands some jokes instead of merely being the butt of them.
As for the original cast, Murray, perhaps sensing the script's faults, seems to be making it up as he goes. He even breaks the fourth wall, staring directly into the camera at one point. Yes, Dr. Venkman did it long before “The Office”! Ramis' Egon has loosened up a bit, performing social experiments. (“Let's see what happens if we take away the puppy.”) Aykroyd gives himself a line of exquisitely dry humor: When the 'Busters find themselves in legal trouble, they call upon old pal Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) for help. Tully protests. “I got my law degree at night school.” Aykroyd's Ray Stantz, defeated, responds. “Well that's fine, Louis. We got arrested at night.”
Does the movie go off the rails when a slime-infested toaster begins dancing to Jackie Wilson, or when Ray uses a Nintendo joystick to make the Statue of Liberty walk across Manhattan? Well, of course it does. It's dumb and unnecessary — but that doesn't mean it's not funny.
“Ghostbusters 2” is available for digital rental and sale, and in an extras-packed Blu-ray bundle with the original. I bet you'll like it more than you remember!
• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor and a huge fan of Kate McKinnon. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.