July 18, 2016 -- This new Ghostbusters was hated by the trolls before it ever hit the screens, but it turns out to be pretty funny, and it even takes a few pot shots at the trolls while having fun with the premise of the original film. Fans of the original film will notice a number of cameos from original cast members in this film, too.

The original 1984 film was about a bunch of misfits and outcasts who were shunned by the scientific and academic communities, but they turned out to be right, and they turned out to be just the team the world needed to stop a supernatural invasion. This new film takes this same premise a step farther by turning the outcast team into women.

Casting the ghostbusters as women makes them even more unlikely heroes since it is rare to see women cast as smart, strong, brave scientists or action heroes, but both at once? Now that's really rare. Why, this very notion angers a lot of people, it seems (see the Wikipedia article about this movie for more about the haters) as does the notion of a woman president.

Kristen Wiig (“The Martian”) stars as Erin Gilbert, a scientist on the cusp of getting tenured at a major university, when it is discovered she wrote a book on the paranormal declaring ghosts are real. She loses her job over this book and immediately goes to confront her co-author, Abby Yates (played by Melissa McCarthy of “Spy”) about the disastrous results of Yates putting the book up for sale on Amazon.com without her permission.

Somehow, Gilbert immediately gets roped into a paranormal investigation along with Yates and her partner (Kate McKinnon of “Ted 2”). There, she sees a ghost, inspiring her to become a member of the team. The fourth member of the team, Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones of “Trainwreck”) joins the team for the excitement, I guess. The film doesn't really explain this. Comic relief, as if you really need it with these funny women, is provided by hunk-in-residence Kevin (Chris Hemsworth, star of “Thor”) who plays the dimwitted, but amiable Ghostbusters receptionist.

It turns out the reason for the increase in ghosts is that a mad scientist who hates people has developed a machine to amplify ghostly activity and to open a portal into another dimension. This would result in, yeah, pretty much the apocalypse, wrath of god type stuff, cats and dogs living together. The only people who can stop this? You guessed it. This is pretty much the same plot as the original film, minus the romance.

All of the main cast members from the original film show up in cameo roles in this film, except for Rick Moranis, who reportedly turned down an offer to appear. Original cast member Harold Ramis died in 2014 (a great loss) but a bust of him appears in the film, and his son Daniel is in the cast. Also appearing are Bill Murray (who has the most extensive speaking role of the returnees) Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts.

In the original film, Bill Murray gave an inspired performance as a cynical hustler wisecracking his way through the film. Harold Ramis was the nerdy straight man and Dan Aykroyd was nerdy and harried. In this film, Wiig plays a character similar to Aykroyd's character, Jones is the practical one, down to earth, breezing through a string of good observational wisecracks. Meanwhile, McCarthy and McKinnon are borderline loopy. But they are all smart and brave. This is a solid cast and they give good performances.

I'd put this new film in the middle of the three main films with Ghostbusters in the title. It is not as good as the original, but better than “Ghostbusters 2,” which was an unnecessary sequel. This remake didn't need to be made either, but these days Hollywood does little else but recycle sequels and remakes. As far as a remake of a beloved comedy, it is pretty good. We need good comedies in these times of hate and strife. There are few good comedies now being made. This is one of them. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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