‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ Review: A Loving Tribute To Harold Ramis Is Sabotaged By Fan Service, Overwrought Affections & Itself
Can you pour so much authentic love, tenderness, and warmth into a tribute with your heart in the right place and still get it all wrong? And to that end of questions, is it possible to apply the “wrong” genre to a beloved genre franchise? Well, for the former, “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” certainly makes the case for a cautionary tale about overwrought affections. Because the new film by director Jason Reitman—the son of Ivan Reitman, the director of the original 1984 comedy— is undoubtedly a well-meaning love letter to “Ghostbusters,” and the late Harold Ramis, in particular, but its well-intentioned embrace is too reverent and eventually turns mawkish, even awkward and embarrassing in the final act.