Ghostbusters (2016 film)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Broken Base: The reboot has inspired one by its very existence. Fans of the original who hate the reboot have disowned the reboot as a stain on the series legacy, while fans of the reboot think it was better than the original and disown it.
    • And then there are the people who think of them as two different but good movies that share a common legacy, who are hated equally by both.
  • Complete Monster: Rowan North, a whiny misogynistic loser of a nerd (and a very thinly-veiled Take That towards the film's detractors) who causes ghosts to endanger hundreds of lives while trying to orchestrate the apocalypse as revenge for being looked down on by others for all his life.
  • Fan Dumb: The extreme wing of Purists and King Customers who have been so infuriated by the reboot's Gender Flip that they have actively attacked and tried to destroy the careers of the performers simply for having been in the film. Taken Up to Eleven by the racist subset, who have hacked Leslie Jones' website and Twitter feed and posted nude photos of her in a pathetic attempt to humiliate and "punish" her. On the other side of the coin however are the extreme defenders of the film who are willing to drown out any legitimate criticisms by calling it "Hate Speech" or "Sexism", going as far as to lead brutal smear campaigns against these critics (With James Rolfe being the most famous example).
  • Fan Nickname: Among the anti crowd, "Ghostbusters: Current Year".
  • Hype Aversion: A lot of people who hated the movie felt that way simply because they were utterly put off by the apparent Straw Feminist promotion done before it was even out, and were further disinclined to care because the director himself dismissed potential critics as He-Man Woman Haters.
  • Never Trust a Trailer: The initial teaser trailers (accidentally?) suggested that this film was a Sequel to the original Ghostbusters movies instead of a Continuity Reboot.
  • Overshadowed by Controversy: Good luck finding anyone who isn't aware of the absolute shitshow that ensued due to the aggressive attitude from Paul Feig and co. towards the film's detractors. It's very likely that this played a part in the film underperforming at the box office.
  • Serious Business: The film has inspired a lot of this in both people who liked it and people who hated it. On one side of the coin, there are a Vocal Minority of fans whose issues with the whole Gender Flip aspect of the reboot lacks any real legitimacy behind it and indeed mostly lies in the presence of women in the titular roles. However, on the other side of the coin, someone (read: James Rolfe) merely expressing their desire to not see the film without even mentioning the Gender Flip aspect of it is apparently enough to warrant constant personal attacks and accusations of being a misogynist.
  • Signature Scene: For the detractors, the scene where Patty accuses a crowd at a concert's intentions of dropping her on the ground as "A black thing or a lady thing" as well as the scene where The Ghostbusters defeat Rowan by blasting him in the crotch are viewed as the biggest indicators of the agenda the film is trying to push.
  • So Okay It's Average: This seems to be the overall reception the film got: when you get past the wars that broke out between the pro and anti camps, it's merely a mediocre comedy in the vein of Adam Sandler's recent comedies with very few truly funny moments.
    • Note that Rotten Tomatoes and its users heavily cherry-picked its reviews and how they were rated to achieve even a fairly mediocre rating. A closer look at the reviews and numbers would show that the Porn Parody of it that came out shortly after its release was actually better reviewed overall.
  • Tainted by the Preview: The initial trailer was among the most downvoted videos of all time on Youtube.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Pick a male character. Any male character. Odds are they are either stupid, incompetent, evil, or any variation or mix of the three. In complete defiance of the original movie, which was extremely evenhanded in its approach to the genders.
    • Then we have Patty Tolan, the only black Ghostbuster of the quartet without a college degree, much like Winston Zeddmore of the original movies. Unlike Winston however, who was defined as being a down-to-earth blue collar worker who served as the Straight Man to his more eccentric buddies, Patty is very much an embarrassingly stereotypical portrayal of a loud sassy black woman.