My Favorite Movies: #17—Ghostbusters

17. Ghostbusters (1984) 

Genre: Comedy 

Director: Ivan Reitman 

Writers: Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis 

Stars: Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts 

Awards: 2 Oscar nominations—Original Song, Visual Effects 

Metacritic score: 71 

IMDB Ranking: n/a

Who you gonna call? In 1984, everyone knew the answer to this question. I first saw this movie in the theater in the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, and I had to see it a second time just to catch some of the jokes because the laughter in the theater drowned out so many lines after the laughs.

This film is a comedy classic and deserves to be on anyone's list of the best comedies of all time. The plot is simple: Bill Murray (Peter Venkman) is a skeptical charlatan of a scientist; Dan Akroyd (Ray Stantz) is the true believer; Harold Ramis (Egon Spengler) is the nerdy tech genius; and Ernie Hudson (Winston Zeddmore) is the regular guy just looking for a job. Together, they capture ghosts in New York City, leaving a trail of hilarious mayhem in their wake.

The story also involves a beautiful cellist, Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), who, along with her geeky accountant neighbor, Louis Tulley (Rick Moranis), become pawns in the efforts of Gozer the Gozerian, an ancient god, to return to earth to destroy everything. Also along for the ride are Annie Potts as the group's put-upon secretary, Janine Melnitz ("I've quit better jobs than this"), and the human antagonist William Atherton as the EPA bureaucrat who wants to shut the Ghostbusters down for a long list of environmental violations.

Each of these set pieces is nothing more than a successive series of sight gags and one-liners put together in a way that leads to the silliest of climaxes—the arrival of a gigantic Marshmallow Man. Bill Murray is at his pinnacle of comic genius here, getting off most of the great lines. When the Marshmallow Man is revealed, he deadpans, "Now there's something you don't see every day."

The movie was a box office smash that generated a disappointing sequel as well as a recent all-female reboot that I found entertaining but unnecessary. Watching the movie more than 30 years later, the laughs are all still as solid even if the special effects look cheesy and dated. Anyone who aspires to be a comedy writer or comic actor should watch this movie on a repeating loop to experience what Venkman tells his cohorts about Gozer: "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown."