GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (2021) ***

Freshly evicted from their New York apartment, a single mom (Carrie Coon) and her two kids (McKenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard) move to her father’s dilapidated farmhouse in the middle of nowhere to start anew.  One thing she never told her kids:  Their grandfather was a Ghostbuster.  He also left behind clues to prevent a major supernatural cataclysm the likes that hasn’t been experienced since 1984.  It’s then up to the kids to save the town (and possibly the world) from the evil spirits.  

Ghostbusters:  Afterlife was co-written and directed by Jason Reitman, son of the original Ghostbusters director, Ivan.  What makes the film work is that he gives the film his own unique comedic spin while very much honoring what came before.  When the movie is doing its own thing, it works rather well.  The early scenes of the kids finding the proton pack, PKE meters, and traps is a lot of fun, as is the scene where they take the old ECTO-1 out for a test spin to bust their first ghost.  

When Reitman leans into the nostalgic aspects of the story, he leans perhaps a little too hard, hammering many of the callbacks to the first film squarely on the nose.  While it suffers from the occasional “member berries” moment, when Afterlife clicks, it’s enormously entertaining.  Fans of the original may be dismayed that it takes a while for the OG Ghostbusters to make their entrance, but it’s well worth the wait.  Again, some of their schtick relies too heavily on what they did thirty-seven years ago, but there is at least one huge laugh to be had during their brief reunion.  Do I wish they had more to do?  Yes.  Do I wish the editing was a little tighter in the second act?  Sure.  However, Ghostbusters fans will no doubt get a kick out of much of the busting that takes place.  

The performances are all around great, which helps give this iteration in the franchise its own identity.  Coon is fun as the world-weary mom whose main advice to her kids is “Don’t be yourself”.  McKenna Grace is a star in the making.  Much of the movie rests on her shoulders and she gamely carries it in stride.  Finn Wolfhard isn’t quite as successful, but that’s mostly because his role is just the classic older brother cliché character.  Even then, he still gets his share of moments.  

It’s Paul Rudd who completely steals the movie as the kids’ teacher who nerds out when he sees the Ghostbuster equipment.  He also gets the biggest laugh when he shows his class a very inappropriate film.  If there is a sequel (and the post-credits scene suggests there might), I hope he becomes a full-fledged Ghostbuster because he is the best thing about the flick.  

Overall, it’s not quite as memorable as Ghostbusters 2, but it’s certainly more fun than the recent reboot.  It arguably has as much heart as the original as I will freely admit it hit me in the feels a few times.  While I wish Reitman didn’t rehash so much of the plot of the original (especially in the third act), Afterlife proves there is plenty of life left in the Ghostbusters franchise.