GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE (2021) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Jason Reitman
Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard,
Paul Rudd, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor,
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson,
Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver, J.K. Simmons
The spirit of Harold Ramis hangs over everything in this spectral comedy, as Egon Spengler's 12-year-old granddaughter (Mckenna Grace) heads up a new, young generation of ghostbusters. CGI allows Harold himself to make a posthumous appearance, while still-breathing colleagues Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson step in to help the kids blast the ghosts at the end. The movie's neither deep nor full of surprises, but it's a lot of fun, and Grace, who's on screen much of the time, grounds it in a way most actors her age couldn't dream of doing. She's a cool kid who loves bad jokes, and as the nerdy, brainy, self-contained heir to Egon, she's perfect. Egon would be crazy about her, and somewhere in the afterlife, Harold Ramis is smiling.
