Thirty years after the original film, "Ghostbusters" is back with a female cast starring Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. ( / Columbia Pictures) 
 
 Sunny, slimy and profoundly silly, the new, lady-centric reboot of “Ghostbusters” immediately silences the backlash and bluster that’s preceded it. Never deigning to take the skeptical and just plain sexist bait that’s been thrown its way since the project was first announced — and that came in buckets when the first trailer was released — this jokey ensemble piece seems engineered to remind viewers of what it was meant to be all along: neither a workhorse for arguments about gender politics nor a Trojan horse for desecrating precious generational shibboleths, but simply an easygoing, enjoyable family comedy. 
 
 Headed by a cast that includes Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, this iteration possesses the same casual, unforced humor that made the 1984 original a virtual instant classic. Once again set in Manhattan, “Ghostbusters” opens with a funny-scary set piece, wherein a tour guide at a posh 19th-century mansion is seen bragging about the stately home’s “face bidet” and “anti-Irish security fence” one moment, and then fending off an oozing tsunami of familiar green goo the next. 
 
 [Thanks, guys: Going to see the all-female ‘Ghostbuster’s is now a political act] 
 
 Who ya gonna call? Erin Gilbert (Wiig), of course. She’s a paranormal researcher and Columbia University instructor whose book, “Ghosts From Our Past: Both Literally and Figuratively,” was co-written with her childhood friend Abby (McCarthy). Although Erin has since recanted her belief in ectoplasmic life, Abby is still determined to catch and examine a real-life ghost — now with the help of her new research partner, Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon). 
 
 McKinnon, it bears noting, delivers a star-making turn in “Ghostbusters,” her eccentric, faintly amused gearhead stealing every scene, much in the way Bill Murray made the most of his moments in the earlier film. Existing in her own enigmatic bubble of non sequiturs and private jokes, she pokes her head out occasionally to utter some arcane piece of technical mumbo jumbo or to munch from a can of Pringles (“salty parabolas,” as she calls them). McKinnon’s Holtzmann is the straw that stirs the drink throughout “Ghostbusters,” her performance one that easily could have been an exercise in phoned-in snark, but instead proves to be an example of genuinely smart, specific and confoundingly funny characterization. 
 
 She's known now for "Saturday Night Live" and the "Ghostbusters" revival, but once upon a time Kate McKinnon was part of a web series called "Vag Magazine." Here's a look back at her career. (Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post) 
 
 Indeed, Wiig and McCarthy mostly act as deadpan comic foils to McKinnon’s inspired lunacy, which, like everything else about “Ghostbusters,” possesses the quiet, good-natured rhythms of a comedy that largely resists hysterical overreach. When Leslie Jones — as a freaked-out MTA worker and aficionado of early Manhattan history — joins the team, she brings along her own expertly delivered one-liners (not to mention her uncle’s hearse). Chris Hemsworth, as the Ghostbusters’ studly receptionist, gives Channing Tatum a run for his money in a cleverly revisionist take on cinema’s so-called dumb blondes, from Marilyn Monroe to Judy Holliday. “Who ordered the Clark Kent stripper-gram?” someone asks, when he shows up at one point. 
 
 [Trolls are doing whatever they can to bring down the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot] 
 
 Hemsworth’s objectified secretary is one of the few times sexism is explicitly invoked in “Ghostbusters,” in which director Paul Feig and his co-writer, Katie Dippold, couldn’t help but include a few digs at the movie’s online haters. Still, the mood is more playful than polemical in a movie that leaves poisonous culture wars behind for a brighter, shinier, goofier world — albeit one in which the firehouse where the first Ghostbusters made their headquarters now fetches $21,000 a month. 
 
 
 
 Slimer. (Hopper Stone/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT) 
 
 Gertrude the Ghost. (Hopper Stone/SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT) 
 
 The original guys, by the way, are mostly all on hand for cameos in “Ghostbusters” — even the late Harold Ramis, who is appropriately honored in memoriam in an early scene. Some work better than others, as can be said of all the film’s supporting performances. Cecily Strong, for example, falls surprisingly flat as an aide to the mayor, her cadences oddly similar to McKinnon’s own casual, borderline-bored delivery. 
 
 Even as it ambles along at its own adamantly un-self-important pace, “Ghostbusters” reaches a fatal turning point in the third act, when it descends into an engulfing chaos of CGI effects, blue and green smoke and drawn-out, repetitive mayhem for its own sake. Of a piece with the bigger-longer-louder endings most action movies revert to these days, the endgame of “Ghostbusters” feels utterly at odds with the rest of the movie’s refreshingly low-key tone. But that vibe returns during the film’s fun finale and end-credits crawl, as well as in a final-final stinger that diehard fans won’t want to miss. For all the high dudgeon with which the movie has been anticipated, it turns out that “Ghostbusters” — like the girls who cheerfully dominate it this time around — just wants to have fun. And it does. ||||| I Ain't Afraid Of No Fanboys: Quirky Performances Enliven New 'Ghostbusters' 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Sony Pictures Sony Pictures 
 
 We are haunted by the original Ghostbusters, but it is a mostly benevolent haunting: a Class III apparition, at best. Indelible moments from the film have caused little disturbances in pop-culture's memory hole over the last 32 years — the rad Ray Parker Jr. theme music, the Marshmallow Man, the library chase that's become a part of the fabric of New York itself. The movie is the poster child for the rare Hollywood blockbuster that walks between two worlds: the world of stuff designed to make money, and the world of stuff that entertains. In other words, between the dead and the living. 
 
 Director Paul Feig and screenwriter Katie Dippold (The Heat) know that the substantial challenge in front of the Ghostbusters reboot is the same challenge facing any reboot: to both feel like fresh entertainment and, conversely, conjure nostalgia for the ghost over its shoulder. So though they deviate from the first film in tone (there are few serious attempts to scare the audience, for instance), they acknowledge the spectral presence of Ivan Reitman's predecessor, with cameos and callbacks galore, including the same unflattering beige exterminator jumpsuits and a title card that blares the opening bass line of that theme music like a funky Batsignal. History is safe for another day, even if some ghastly figures on the Internet refuse to believe it. (Question for the class: If a transparent demon slimes a keyboard, is that the same thing as an opinion?) 
 
 Well anyway, as a wise woman says here, "You're not supposed to listen to what crazy people write in the middle of the night online." That woman is Melissa McCarthy, whose sharp-n-snappy paranormal investigator Abby Yates tips her hat to the audience early in the film so she can lay down the law. Enough vitriol. When Abby and her colleagues jump up and down with glee after nabbing particularly spooky baddies, they're telling us something: Bustin' makes them feel good. 
 
 Abby is one-quarter of the new, all-female spook exterminator team, along with longtime friend Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig); the two once co-authored a book on ghosts before Erin, unable to conjure up concrete evidence for her theories, retreated into academia instead. But Abby kept up the action, conducting experiments from the basement of a less-than-reputable university (the dean has forgotten she's there). When demons start shaking up New York, the two strap on some proton packs in a rented space above a Chinese restaurant for hijinks and a little too much scientific jargon. 
 
 Wiig and McCarthy have a natural give-and-take comic chemistry, as we first learned in Feig's Bridesmaids. While Wiig's patented brand of stammering out the punchlines under her breath isn't always the best fit for this material, and her character's obsession with the hunky, dim receptionist (Chris Hemsworth) lacks a big payoff, she shines when she's able to swing for the fences, as when she hysterically warns the mayor (Andy Garcia) to evacuate the city. McCarthy, as she's done before when she didn't have CGI monsters to compete with, corrals the room in every situation, whether picking fights with a delivery boy over the number of wantons in her soup or going rogue after a possession by an occult-obsessed loner (Neil Casey). 
 
 But the real star of Ghostbusters is one Kate McKinnon, her of the bountiful Saturday Night Live impressions, as an irreverent sidekick who presents dangerous gadgets in tossed-off fashion ("it's basically a nuclear bomb strapped to the roof of the car"). In her wily line delivery and cocksure swagger, McKinnon resembles nothing if not a young Bill Murray. Through her thick goggles is the impish spark that keeps movies like this in orbit. 
 
 As in the original, the busters are all played by veterans of improv — the cast is rounded out by the boisterous Leslie Jones, also of SNL, in the Ernie Hudson role as a transit worker who sees some spooks and signs up for action. Yet this cast feels more constrained by the machinations that power a 2016 blockbuster. So the new film never manages to be quite as transcendently fun as it should, and suffers from clunky plotting and bumpy editing that reeks of studio nervousness. Ideas that should play like Ghostbuster gangbusters, such as a demonic presence infiltrating a heavy metal convention, sputter in the homestretch. At one point Feig sets the stage for a show-stopping dance number, only to abandon it until the end credits without substituting any sort of iconic set-piece. 
 
 Still, sloppiness doesn't matter as much if the new Ghostbusters can haunt even a little, and it does. Sporadically, and with considerable assist from McKinnon, it provides the goofy summer fun we want in a movie about comedians hunting the supernatural. Bridging those worlds is tough. If a film succeeds even a little ... well, it's a bit spooky. ||||| Much has already been written in advance of the opening of “Ghostbusters” about how the film will serve as a referendum on the future success or failure of female-centric Hollywood movies. All I can say is, I certainly hope this dreary, bleary comedy doesn’t end up serving as a referendum on anything. That would be a disservice to women, not to mention movies. 
 
 It seemed like a good idea – reboot the “Ghostbusters” franchise with a female cast. The cast was promising, too – Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones. But, as is so often the case with special-effects-heavy movies, the character comedy quickly gets trampled by the effects (in this case, not special). 
 
 The film’s ineptitude, courtesy of director Paul Feig, extends to the actresses themselves, most of whom have been far funnier. Or not. McCarthy’s welcome wore out for me some time ago; the slapstick raunch and the hollering have become tiresome schtick. Wiig, like so many "Saturday Night Live" performers (most conspicuously Tina Fey), doesn’t retain on the big screen the sass and wigginess (pun intended) she exhibited on the small screen. 
 
 Leslie Jones, of "SNL," is stuck playing the soul sister part, but she has a few funny freestyle moments, as does McKinnon. Chris Hemsworth, playing the women’s assistant, plays a hunky airhead and seems to be in the movie only to provide some counterprogramming. He’s the male bimbo – a sex role-reversal joke that never takes off. The whole movie never takes off. Grade: D (Rated PG-13 for supernatural action and some crude humor.) ||||| Bill Murray approves of the ladies of the new “Ghostbusters” film! 
 
 On Wednesday night’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the Ghostbusters of past and present got together to talk about the new film, due in theaters July 15. 
 
 RELATED: Bill Murray takes on a “heckler” in this unforgettable Letterman clip 
 
 After showing a teaser from the film, Kimmel asked some of the veteran Ghostbusters why they chose to be apart of this movie instead of the countless other revival ideas that have been pitched throughout the years. 
 
 “It was only ’cause I knew these girls were funny,” Murray said without hesitation. The audience cheered in approval. “When you see the film, and you’ll delight in the film, it sorta rumbles along in the beginning and you’ll go, ‘Oh God, are they going to pull this thing off?’ Believe me, I feel like a stepfather to the whole thing, you know? There’s just no quitting with these girls.” 
 
 He continued, “This is a tough movie to pull off. Because it’s a big concept. There’s a lot on the plate, there’s a lot of expectation. And Danny [Aykroyd] and I and Annie [Potts] and Ernie [Hudson] were just screaming and cheering like we were at a sporting event at the end of it.” 
 
 RELATED: Bill Murray loves his Yahtzee, and this “SNL” spot shows just how much 
 
 The girls, including Melissa McCarthy, Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, admitted that hearing the original actors sing their praises like that was an incredible feeling and just unbelievable. 
 
 If the OGs approve, then it must be good! ||||| This aggression will not stand, man. An all-female “Ghostbusters”? It’s like they used a gigantic Kool-Aid Man to replace the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Pure heresy! I know, because I saw how it was mis-sold by poorly edited trailers. Prepare to meet my proton stream, Hollywood. 
 
 To such comments I say, get over it, fanboy. The colorful new version isn’t unfaithful to the source material’s mythology. It’s a fun, true-blue update of a classic. 
 
 Ivan Reitman, who made the first two “Ghostbusters” films, remains as producer. The earlier cast members pop in to delightful effect, with the cinematography, writing and overall mood spot on. It returns to iconic locations. Lines of dialogue are called back verbatim. The comedy is as rich as Paul Feig, the impeccably funny director/co-writer of “Spy” and “Bridesmaids,” can get without an R rating. This is no more a double-crossing adaptation than “The Force Awakens” is a fraudulent version of “Star Wars.” 
 
 The new spin follows Kristen Wiig as Erin Gilbert, an uptight Columbia University physics professor who was bullied as a little girl for claiming to have seen a ghost, and as a result spent almost her whole life pretending to be a skeptic. She is kicked off the faculty when the school discovers her long-hidden book about the supernatural, “Ghosts From Our Past, Both Literally and Figuratively,” whose opening line is, “This is not a joke.” 
 
 Her dismissal puts her back in contact with Melissa McCarthy’s ratchet-jawed Abby Yates, her long ago co-author, now a fellow scientist at a much cheesier college. The two are a funny team of introvert and chatterbox. Turning them into a Hot Wheels tricycle is Kate McKinnon as Yates’ gender-ambiguous colleague Jillian Holtzmann, a puckish steampunk who raises the film to hilarious weirdness in every single take. McKinnon walks away with the film; her flawless reaction shots off to the side always eclipse the main gag. 
 
 The trio form a new Ghostbusters team to rescue a haunted mansion, introducing Feig’s no-holds-barred approach to supernatural sliming. When Wiig is slathered with a torrent of ectoplasmic goo, she tells the others, “That stuff went everywhere, by the way. In every crack. Very hard to wash off.” 
 
 The fourth leading lady joins the ranks a bit later. Leslie Jones is Patty Tolan, a city subway worker with a near encyclopedic knowledge of New York City history. 
 
 Each member gets a few nice moments of character development. Wiig does wild puppy love when idiotic, irresistible Kevin (Chris Hemsworth in upbeat form) becomes their incompetent receptionist. McCarthy does fine triple-speed small talk in normal life, then shifts gears radically in a bout of demonic possession. Jones gets a slam-bang action scene worthy of Serena Williams at Wimbledon. Feig handles the movie’s recurring battle scenes well, and the way the spirits are presented here is several steps up from the visual effects of 1984. 
 
 Did I love every instant? Not all of them. In a clear pitch to the shootout-craving international audience, the team members here aren’t ghostcatchers but neutron gunslingers and bomb tossers. The marginal villain behind the sudden reappearance of centuries-old spirits is not evil personified but a grumpy Gus. 
 
 And it seems to have opened the door for limitless reboots and continuations. I’d gladly watch a solo story centered on McKinnon, but that’s quite enough, thank you. 
 
 Overall, this “Ghostbusters” is a sweet cultural revival, a movie that delivers summer blockbuster pleasure, not sequel overdose syndrome. 
 
 In fact, it’s so closely related to the mid-’80s hit and sequel that you need to be aware of them to appreciate this delicious rehash. Dig into the canon if you haven’t experienced it; enter with confidence if you have. 
 
 The script even includes some laughs at the expense of the creepy new menace of online trolls, such as the ones who gave the film’s trailers the most disliked response in the annals of YouTube. If it pushes some fans out of the franchise, it will pull many more in. 
 
 Twitter: @colincovert
– Remaking Ghostbusters was never going to be easy. Luckily, an all-female cast wasn't afraid to answer the call. While audiences—who may or may not have read the hate blanketing the web—give this summer's reboot a 44% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, most critics are counting it as a win. Here's what they're saying. "Get over it, fanboy." This new Ghostbusters is "a fun, true-blue update of a classic," writes Colin Covert at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The visuals are much improved over 1984 and "the comedy is as rich as [director] Paul Feig … can get without an R rating." Covert adds Kate McKinnon "walks away with the film; her flawless reaction shots off to the side always eclipse the main gag." Less scary than the original, Ghostbusters is "goofy summer fun" that benefits from Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy's "natural give-and-take comic chemistry," writes Andrew Lapin at NPR. But "the real star" is McKinnon, who "resembles nothing if not a young Bill Murray." However, awkward plotting and editing knock the movie down a peg. Peter Rainer wasn't impressed. "The character comedy quickly gets trampled by the effects (in this case, not special)," he writes at Christian Science Monitor. Leslie Jones "has a few funny freestyle moments, as does McKinnon," but most of the cast has "been far funnier." Meanwhile, Chris Hemsworth plays "the male bimbo—a sex role-reversal joke that never takes off. The whole movie never takes off." Ann Hornaday doesn't agree. "Sunny, slimy, and profoundly silly, the new, lady-centric reboot of Ghostbusters immediately silences the backlash," she writes at the Washington Post. It "seems engineered to remind viewers of what it was meant to be all along: neither a workhorse for arguments about gender politics nor a Trojan horse for desecrating precious generational shibboleths, but simply an easygoing, enjoyable family comedy." (Check out what Bill Murray had to say about the movie.)