Ghostbusters: Legacy: Not a Grand Cru Ghostbusters (review)

Son Reitman takes back the reins of the franchise and makes a film with his ass between two chairs.

At the end of 2021, Ghostbusters were making headlines again with this sequel no longer signed by Ivan Reitman, but Jason, his son to whom we owe Juno Or Thank You For Smoking. This family film is coming to free-to-air television this Sunday on TF1, but is it really worth a watch? Here is the review of Firstoriginally released upon release.

Ecto-1 has a blast in New York: the first photos from Ghostbusters: Afterlife 2

Five years after Paul Feig’s female reboot, Jason Reitman takes up the torch from his father Ivan for an “official” third part of the saga Ghostbusters. Exit New York, head to the open countryside where a single mother (Carrie Coon) and her two children (the very charismatic Mckenna Grace and Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things) settle in the godforsaken house of their grandfather – the late Egon Spengler -, only to discover that the ghost hunter had not cut himself off from the world by chance… Intergenerational transmission, that’s all we’ll be talking about in this curious object on its knees before the sacred frankness of father, nevertheless in permanent struggle for its independence. Opposing forces which bring out very personal motives of the Reitman son (the resentment, the dysfunctional family), coated in nostalgia and a slightly forced humor (the unbearable function character named Podcast; Phoebe’s heartbreaking jokes).

The worshipers of the first film – the second is strangely swept under the rug – will be like in slippers, the story of Ghostbusters: Legacy incorporating almost all the story elements that made the legend. A little too much for its own good, especially in a final sequence which allows us to see with our eyes the ravages of time. Not one Ghostbusters grand cru therefore, but absolutely fascinating to examine from the angle of the figure of the father. And perhaps, if success is achieved, a free pass for other filmmakers who would like to make the franchise their own.

Trailer :

Ghostbusters: The Original 1984 Movie vs. Legacy