Track record.
There’s been a ton of controversy over the upcoming Ghostbusters remake, one reason being its very poorly received trailer (I’ve seen people calling it one of the worst trailers they’ve ever watched). I’ve never been good at determining a film by its trailer; in 2013 I found myself hesitant to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Lincoln, and Life of Pi based on—what I found to be—underwhelming and/or cliché driven trailers…yet guess which films ended up as my top three favorites of the year. My substandard ability to predict a film’s quality by its trailer(s) has led me to avoid making any predetermined judgments based on the Ghostbusters’ trailers—and yet I do have reason to believe the film may end up being good (contrary to what many others think), the simple reason being its director’s track record.
Since the 2010s began, director Paul Feig has made three comedies: 2011’s Bridesmaids, 2013’s The Heat, and 2015’s Spy. All three films are raunchy R-rated comedies, have Melissa McCarthy in a major role, and focus predominantly on female characters. From an external receptive standpoint, all three films have a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes: The Heat with 65%, Bridesmaids with 90%, and Spy with a whopping 94%. Both Bridesmaids and Spy received Golden Globe nominations for Best Picture—Musical or Comedy, Bridesmaids was nominated at the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, and McCarthy received a supporting and lead acting nomination at both the Oscars (for Bridesmaids) and Golden Globes (for Spy) respectively.
From a personal perspective, I’ve enjoyed all three films to various degrees. Bridesmaids is my least favorite due to a depressing spiral of events that occurs during its last third, yet it still has enough funny moments and likable characters to get a thumbs up. The Heat is a more typical buddy-cop comedy, but a hilarious one nonetheless, with some effectively witty chemistry and banter between its costars McCarthy and Sandra Bullock, in addition to a genuinely touching friendship between their characters. Feig’s latest film Spy is by far my favorite of his McCarthy comedies: it’s hilariously raunchy, delightfully witty, contains enjoyably colorful characters, great character development, and a surprisingly original take on the done-to-death espionage satire.
Will Ghostbusters be great, average, or absolute crap? I won’t know until I see it in theaters—yet with Feig’s positive track record (which, for me, has gotten better with each new film), I have confidence in the remake, though I am clearly in the minority. My only concern is Ghostbusters’ PG-13 rating, which most likely means an unfortunate decrease in Feig’s uproarious vulgarity. Nonetheless, Ghostbusters is still a film directed by Feig, with Melissa McCarthy in a major role, and focused predominantly on female characters, which, so far, has been his element to shine.
