This evening I took myself off to see one of the most controversial films of the year. The sheer oceans of man-tears that have been shed over the Ghostbusters remake would drown entire solar systems. Goodness only knows what movie they think they would see if they were to actually go and see it. The real thing is pretty darn good.

The showing didn’t get off to a great start because the cinema insisted on putting on a bunch of trailers “specially selected” to go with the main event. So yes, there were trailers for some really bad comedy films that looked at if they had been written by men with the intention of appealing to very drunk women. There was one piece of genius by Celia Imrie, but otherwise the trailers were even more cringe-worthy than the one for Ghostbusters.

Thankfully the film itself is nothing like the trailer. To start with, Leslie Jones’ character, Patty, is much smarter than the trailer gives her credit for. OK, she’s not a scientist like the other women, but she has plenty of brain. They could have done better, but it wasn’t as bad as I had expected.

The film isn’t a continual laugh-fest, and that’s probably just as well, because that sort of thing gets wearing. There are bits that are not as funny or clever as the scriptwriters probably thought. The section at the heavy metal concert, in particular, felt very flat for me.

However, there were many good jokes, and all four main actresses did good jobs. Chris Hemsworth isn’t nearly as good without Loki to be the straight man for, but then again he was only there as eye candy, a job he fulfilled admirably.

Some of the best jokes came after the credits started to roll. I cannot understand why modern cinema audiences get up and leave before the end. Do they not pay attention to anything written about other films?

I am tempted to complain that there was too much of other people’s music and not enough of Ray Parker Jr.. However, if there had been more of that song I would probably have had to get up and dance, which would have been embarrassing for everyone.

As many other people have noted, Kate McKinnon steals the show. As I said earlier on Facebook, if you don’t come out of this film a lesbian then my name isn’t Mrs. Holtzmann.

Thankfully for my straight reputation there is also Mr. Hemsworth (swoon), and his character is called Kevin (double swoon). Now all I need to do is avoid getting the two of them confused…

Most importantly, however, I cannot for the life of me understand what all of the fuss is about. Dan Ackroyd has writing and production credits on the film, and it would be hard to find any other film with such obvious respect and affection for its predecessor. The cameos are brilliant, especially the final one, the one after the credits have started. And if you stayed to the end you will know that there really needs to be a sequel. I’m hoping that Holtzmann’s mentor gets a bigger role in that one.