MICHAEL LOMAX: ‘Ghostbusters’ flatlines but illuminates

I think I had the same reaction as everyone else when I found out they were remaking “Ghostbusters,” and that thought was this: money, simple as that. In that respect, at least, the new “Ghostbusters” should be successful. But the film will face a rough climb, and the biggest reason why isn’t so pretty.

Doctors Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy) and Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) are a pair of paranormal experts whose research is not taken too seriously by the mainstream. Kicked out of credible academia, the two set up shop above an old Chinese restaurant and start investigating claims of paranormal activity throughout New York. But after discovering a plot to open a portal directly into the ghost world, the newly christened Ghostbusters must answer the call and save the city from certain doom.

A relatively simple story from start to finish, “Ghostbusters” unfolds in pretty much the same ways as the original, and to be perfectly honest, I didn’t really expect much more than that. The laughs are there for sure, but like almost all comedy remakes, the original charm is missing and not enough is there to make the movie memorable.

But that doesn’t mean “Ghostbusters” is bad. Just a little flat. So why is this movie hated so much?

I don’t mean by the critics, who have been mixed-positive for the most part. I mean by the people. For example, the first trailer for the new “Ghostbusters” is one of the most disliked videos on YouTube, and considering how much junk there is on YouTube, that’s saying a lot. What’s worse is reading some of the comments. Many of them are hilarious, yes, but some are just downright dirty.

And if you look at who’s making these comments, it’s almost universally men.

I can understand the natural pushback for a remake of what was already a pretty good film, and I can also understand the eye rolling that comes, here at least, from the fact that the original cast was turned all female. Because, let’s face it, I don’t think Hollywood has a care in the world for empowering women or anybody else for that matter. Green is all it wants.

But it can still be a little disappointing seeing all of the online negativity getting thrown at an all-female “Ghostbusters.” Put simply, it shouldn’t matter if the cast is all white, all black, all male or all female. You judge movies, as you do people, by their content, and the new “Ghostbusters” is fine. Not good, not bad. Just fine. And gender’s got nothing to do with it.

Michael Lomax is a writer-filmmaker currently at work on a film script to be set and shot in Albany.