Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Ghostbusters II (1989)

Director: Ivan Reitman

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

A river of gunk flows beneath the sidewalks of New York, growing ever bigger in response to people's nasty thoughts. The Ghostbusters confront the sticky philosophical issues with characteristic finesse, but overall this much-hyped sequel fails to recapture the energy of the original. Even the demonic stature of the chief villan (von Homburg), who wants to possess Weaver's baby, fails to inject consistent tension. The film is largely an excuse for a cast get-together, with the Ghostbusters, under judicial restraining order after the havoc wreaked in part one, suffering lives of semi-obscurity. Murray fronts a cable TV show, Aykroyd and Hudson are entertainers to the 'ungrateful yuppie larva' at children's parties, Ramis continues his research. Weaver is a single parent divorcee (and ex-lover of Murray), and her imperilled sprog brings the team back into action. This attempt to inject novelty into the plot by way of an endangered infant is little more than a convenience, while the rest is all too familiar.

Author: CM 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Ivan Reitman

Producer: Ivan Reitman

Cast: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Peter MacNichol, Harris Yulin, David Margulies, Kurt Fuller, Janet Margolin, Wilhelm von Homburg full cast

Genre(s): Comedy

Duration: 108 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.