hedwards: It could be better than I think, but the trailer doesn't show the actors having any real chemistry. One of the things that made the original movies great was that the actors had chemistry with each other. I know at least 3 out of the 4 ghostbusters had spent a significant amount of time working with each other, so the chemistry and the timing was there.
In this case, I'd be concerned that they don't really have that down.
Wishbone: Yeah, I agree. Also, part of what made the original great (in my opinion at least) was that the main characters were played straight, that is, while they had some odd personality quirks, they reacted believably to the events that transpired, without any gross feats of overacting purely for comedic effect.
In this one they seem to have deliberately copied the original characters, but exaggerated their quirks and turned their behavior up to 11, and I don't think that is going to work well.
Also, while Winston Zeddmore may have been the "token black character" in the original, and didn't really have any impact on the story, he was at least believably portrayed, and was basically "just a guy who happened to be black". The Patty Tolan character in the new one...? Oh boy, the writers and director seem to have gone all-in on the
Shithead O'Neal female black stereotype, just to get some cheap laughs. *sigh*
Yes, it might not be as awful a movie as the trailer makes it seem, but a worthy successor to the 1984 original? Not a chance.
Winston was kind of an interesting choice. He was really the character that was meant to help us relate to what was going on because even the "straight" man Bill Murray was rather quirky.
And yes, he was an actual black character rather than a stereotype or a caricature. It would be nice to see more characters like that showing up in movies.
On the bright side, it'll probably do wonders for GB2s reputation.