I work in post production and saw an early version of the movie. I am an old ghostbusters fan (As a kid in the 80s I thought Gozer scared the hell out of me) I didn't know much about the NEW movie before watching it and I was totally for a new female cast. SPOILERS AHEAD: There are cameos and I'll get to those after the summary. Here goes:
Movie opens with a tour of deceased Madame Aldridge's (mansion or hotel I cant recall). One of the guys from Silicon Valley is a tour guide, and says she was locked in a basement to die behind an iron/metal door thats never been opened supposedly. After a few jokes and the tour leaves the tour guide hears something at the locked up door. He freaks and runs around the mansion as supernatural things start happening and accidentally goes through locked door which is now open (he didnt notice where he was going as he was running around frantically). He realizes he's in the basement and is cornered by something and screams as the camera gets closer to him.
Scene then cuts to the ghostbusters song with Kristin Wiig walking towards a TV with a show called GHOST JUMPERS that no one in the movie is involved with (They say GHOST JUMPERS instead of GHOSTBUSTERS in this song). Kristen Wiig is a college professor in math or physics or both? Shes trying to get tenure. Melissa McCarthy is writing a Ghosts of our Past book and keeps trying to ruin Wiig's chances at tenure by selling the book on Amazon with her as co-author and being a shitty friend in general. They show the book on Amazon on a computer (incase you don't know what Amazon is and you are stupid) She meets up with McCarthy to get her to stop putting her name on the book and McCarthy is obsessed with chinese food, specifically wontons. Mckinnon is also a scientist with McCarthy and they convince her to go to the Albridge mansion to investigate together. They go in there and the whole ghost puking scene happens. They record the video and Wiig screams ghosts are real!! Back at her school the actor from Game of Thrones (Tywin Lannister) says the video was posted on Reddit, and youtube. Thus cementing the trend of this movie trying to be "current". They look at the youtube comments, check their phones and youtube multiple times through the movie etc. Wiig is fired and loses her chances at tenure becaause McCarthy is a shitty friend and left her screaming ghosts are real in the video she uploaded to reddit.
UPDATE I'm going to summarize more going forward here to address points that relate to the main plot...
Rowan is a hotel worker who can see ghosts, he's been bullied and called a weirdo his whole life. There's a scene in a backroom of the hotel where he is working on a machine that releases ghosts. It breaks the barrier between the living and dead. He wants to release as many as he can so he can torment the living. he says this line "And the universe shall bend to your will" as if to validate his actions after being bullied and rejected his whole life
Leslie Jones is a subway station worker and a hotel worker (Rowan) brings a machine in to channel or awaken old ghosts. He briefly mentions the 4th cataclysm and Jone's brushes him off as a nut. He walks onto the tracks and she follows him, She sees the ghosts he releases and ends up joining the ghostbusters for her street smarts. She also sees a graffiti artist spray paint the white ghost from the logo in the subway as shes telling him to stop he puts the red circle and line through the ghost.
At this point nothing about the old ghostbusters being around or alive is referenced. They stumble upon the old GB firehouse cant afford the rent cause its 21K/month so they start their HQ at a chinese restaurant, plenty of wontons for McCarthy!! Chris Hemsworth applies as the secretary and he's a moron but a little funny at times.
They bust their first ghost at a cheesy rock concert, a large green dragon the audience thinks is part of the band's act. Jones is chased by a possessed mannekin saying "This is more intense than an usher concert!" One of the concert goers has a selfie stick (please kill yourself now) and takes a picture of the dragon-ghost as it is perched on Leslie Jones shoulder in the crowd. They crowd surf at one point. They capture the ghost and become famous. They get their name from a new segment pegging them as the Ghostbusters (without referencing anything that happened in the past with the old ghostbusters)
They get the ghostbusters car from Jone's uncle (ERNIE HUDSON) although he doesnt show up until the end of the movie.
The main villain Rowan that Jone's encountered in the subway, meanwhile is channeling more ghosts in shitty mirrors with a very large machine. The girl ghostbusters (Ill call them GGB's going forward). He knows what the ghostbusters are doing and goes into a rant about how he wants to do the opposite. Release all the tormented ghosts so they can "pester" the lives of the living, and by pester he means torturing and taking apart their flesh. He says the same line from earlier except he says World instead of universe "And the world will bend to your will" The ghostbusters corner him and say cops are the way, instead of activating the huge machine he grabs these electric currents and dies. The mayor (Andy Garcia) finds out and makes it out to the public like the GGB's are hoaxers.
Rowan is now a ghost and possesses McCarthy, then Hemsworth after Jones slaps the ghost out of McCarthy. Hemsworth then travels on the ECTO 2 motorcycle to the ghost channeling machine to release them all. He releases them all and there's a scene where a scared cop is walking up to him and tries to talk to him. Hemsworth turns around and snarls with glowing eyes (Just like Rick Moranis did in Ghostbusters 1 when he was the keymaster). He releases the tormented ghosts and they spread around the city.
Wiig discovers the hotel guy went to school or something with them since the Ghosts of Our Past book he scribbled in a ton of weird shit in the pages of one of the copies. On one of the pages theres a picture of his face and many people and ghosts with this written "I WILL LEAD THEM ALL" Hemsworth is controlling the city with his ghost powers (he makes the army dance with him to "You should be Dancing", by the Bee Gees). The GGB's face off against him and the ghost leaves Hemsworth body sparing him. He then asks "WHAT FORM DO YOU CHOOSE?" with really no explanation And Jones says out loud "Oh I think that spray painted ghost from the subway was cute!" and he turns into the Ghost from the ghostbusters logo, I AM SHITTING YOU NOT ITS THAT STUPID. He gets bigger and expands as large as a tall building, busting out of it exposing the portal. There's a portal on the ground. Saying cheesy lines like "Heeeeere's Rowan!" "Don't you want to join me and the army of the dead?"
Slimer and a female slimer with brown hair steal the GGB's car and drive around.
The GGB's decide to cross the streams, it doesnt work. Slimer and the female Slimer drive the ghostbusters car into the portal. McCarthy and then Wiig decide to lure the big stupid ghost into the portal before it closes taking themselves inside and they think a tow cable from a fire truck tied around their waists will save them (everyone in this movie is stupid with stupid ideas...) Of course this works, the big ghosts goes in and the portal closes with Wiig and McCarthy going in. Then all the sudden they are yanked out! Wow! The city is saved. They are still branded as hoaxers though. But they can now afford rent at the old GB firehouse. Jones listens to a electro magnet-whatever tape and one of the ghostbusters asks, "you get something?" Jones replies "Yeah I heard something really weird... who is Zuul?" Cue the old ghostbusters song, The End.
Thats the summary of the plot. Here's a few more things I didn't like (I liked very little of this movie)
The cameos of the old cast: They appear to be random strangers they ran into throughout the movie and are out of character thus probably confirming they are not their old characters who have moved on with other jobs. Nothing explaining regarding what happened to the old GB's or their opinions on the new GGB's
Bill Murray = a Skeptic. His lines arent good and he's kinda stiff "WHY ARE YOU PRETENDING TO CATCH GHOSTS??!! THATA GIRL!!!" he gets killed when pushed out a window by the rock concert dragon ghost. He convinced the GGB's to let it out as proof in their tiny chinese restaurant HQ. (Did I mention everyone is stupid in this movie?)
Dan Aykroyd = Cab driver who refuses to drive them when NYC is in havoc "I aint 'fraid of no ghosts" he says in a hard NY accent. This scene was alright.
Annie Potts = Now a hotel lobby clerk answering the phone WHATTAYA WANT??
Sigourney Weaver = A mentor of McKinnon who is disappointed but approves of McKinnon's work at the end of the movie
Ernie Hudson = Jone's uncle who owns a hearse company. When he finds out that they lost the ghostbusters car, Jones wants another one. Hudson says "I got four funerals this weekend. I can't do it with one hearse. Jone's says "Cant you do two at a time?" Hudson replies "Im not stackin em like flapjacks!"
Harold Ramis = ROLLING IN HIS GRAVE (he's not in the movie obviously but I'm positive he would see this movie as a disgrace)
End cameos.
There are constant references to youtube, amazon, and one to reddit (Im sorry). McCarthy loves wontons, Jones is kinda funny but definitely just sassy funny stereotyped. McKinnon is gross funny (cue fart noise, "that came from the front". Wiig is just bland hopefule scientist trying to make sense of her life and wants to bang Hemsworth. Hemsworth was the funniest just being an idiot the whole time but saying he's hilarious would be an overstatement. Everyone just seems really dumb in this movie along with the plot and no explanation on why the hotel guy said "CHOOSE YOUR FORM". Is there a connection to Gozer? gatekeepers? keymasters? They don't talk about any of that except vaguely at the end when Jone's hears Zuul on the tape and Rowan briefly mentions the 4th cataclysm in the subway to her
The ghosts do look neon bright (although not all of them were finished in this version), there is no grit, IT IS LIKE BAD SNL COMEDY with a bad cast that tries WAY too hard to be funny. There's more ghost puking with McCarthy projectile vomiting while possessed. The Ecto 2 is a motorcycle that does nothing. The music is generic and unmemorable. It isn't shot well either, lacks flow and seems pretty damn awkward.
Couple of nostalgic things i kinda liked:
When Bill Murray is a skeptic on the news it shows the old building Sigourney Weaver lived in, in the background. Slimer first appears coming out of a hotdog stand. Some of the buildings, their facades fall and break like in the old movie. Hemsworth growls at a cop with glowing eyes just like Rick Moranis did in ghosbusters 1. Thats about it???
If you watch Angry Joe's review of the Trailer he is spot on. The jokes are very lame and this movie is a complete joke. There's really nothing serious happening and nothing is scary. The dialogue is horrible, cheesy, and loaded with slapstick and side comments that ruin any tension in the film. I wanted this movie to be good cause I'm a big GB fan, but this is a fiasco. The GGB's literally were saved by a firetruck tow cable. I can't believe the old cast agreed to cameos in this movie.
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