Erin (Wiig) is up for tenure at Columbia when her past catches up with her. She once wrote a book about her belief in ghosts with her childhood pal Abby (McCarthy). Drummed out of academia, she reteams with Abby, who is still investigating the paranormal, with gadget expert Jillian (McKinnon). As they form a ghostbusting team to investigate a new spate of menacing sightings around New York, they also draft in city expert Patty (Jones). Their search leads to Rowan (Casey), a nerd who wants to ignite a hellish apocalypse.

The story may be a vague reworking of the 1984 classic, but the characters are completely new, bringing an unexpected spark of life to what might otherwise be a predictable, overused plot. They also allow director-cowriter Feig to make this movie both funnier and scarier than the original. He may spend too much time nodding at the first film (there's a reference every five minutes, including cameos from the entire cast), but he also deploys terrific special effects mayhem when it's needed most.

The four central characters have terrific chemistry, and it's the growing friendship between them that drives them forward, rather than any nonsensical subplots about boyfriends. Each actor finds her own voice in the ensemble: McCarthy is the enthusiastic go-getter, Wiig is the scatterbrained genius, McKinnon is the loose cannon innovator and Jones is the street-smart plain talker. Meanwhile, Hemsworth provides the perfect man-candy counterpoint as their airhead bimbo receptionist.

Unlike most reboots, this movie's main weakness is its slavish desire to please the fans of the first movie. It may be fun to see Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and company pop up, but there's no reason this couldn't have more inventively been written as a years-later sequel with a new team picking up where the original guys left off. Because even with some oddly choppy editing, this is one of the most raucously entertaining blockbusters in recent memory, consistently hilarious and suspenseful at the same time. It makes us look forward to their continuing adventures.

themes, language, violence, innuendo

10.Jul.16