Ghostbusters: Afterlife
A family film with an ending that will leave adults with a smile on your face and a small tear in your eye.
This movie builds on the original “Ghostbuster” films released in 1984 and 1989. A destitute mother (Carrie Coon) and her two teenage children, Phoebe and Trevor, move to a new town to try and make ends meet. They live in a dilapidated country home previously occupied by the kids’ deceased grandfather.
All hell breaks loose as McKenna Grace’s Phoebe discovers strange instruments left by her grandfather. She and her brother Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) soon realize that ghosts with a dangerous intent occupy the surrounding countryside.
While mom hates her late father who she feels abandoned the family, she regains her pride when she develops a relationship with her daughter’s teacher played by Paul Rudd. Rudd, quite funny at times, and Ms. Coon form a team that tries to prevent the world from collapsing. In the process, watch them having sex when they are possessed by ghosts. At least disaster occasionally has an upside!
As noted, this is a movie that kids will like. But what adds icing to the cinematic cake for adults is an ending that involves help from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson, the original Ghostbusters. To paraphrase their own song, “I’m not afraid of no ghosts!”
And while I won’t give it away, the emotional highlight of the film is the tribute paid to the late Harold Ramis, one of the original Ghostbusters. Have a bit of Kleenex handy when you enter the theater.
