Erin Gilbert joins her old friend Abby Yates after a ghost sighting threatens her university career. Engineer Jillian Holtzmann and subway worker Patty Tolan help them build a ghost-catching team in New York City. The women discover that Rowan North is using machines to open a doorway for ghosts and destroy Manhattan. The movie mixes silly jokes, scary creatures, friendship, and large action scenes as the team fights to save the city. The women fill the franchise’s main hero roles, and their skill often contrasts with foolish or hostile men. Their handsome receptionist Kevin struggles with basic tasks and later needs their help after Rowan takes over his body. A sexist online comment and Rowan’s insult about shooting like girls turn doubt about women into jokes that the heroes overcome. Holtzmann also flirts with Erin, adding queer hints without a clear romance. Female skill and male failure shape much of the comedy, while ghost hunting remains the main plot.
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Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Ghostbusters.
Woke representation / casting
The reboot places women in all four central Ghostbuster roles previously held by men. Feig framed the team as a way to inspire girls and women through smart female heroes. Kevin reverses the franchise’s female receptionist role with a handsome male assistant. The woke representation point comes from the lead-wide gender choice and its stated empowerment goal.
76%
Woke political dialogue
Abby reads a sexist online comment saying women cannot hunt ghosts. The scene treats that claim as foolish while the women continue their work. Rowan later tells the heroes that they shoot like girls. The film uses these brief gender-politics jokes to reject claims that women lack the skill to be heroes.
28%
Identity-driven story themes
The four women save New York through their knowledge, teamwork, and fighting skill. Kevin repeatedly fails at simple tasks and becomes someone the women must rescue. The comedy often sets capable women against foolish or dismissive men, giving the story a female-empowerment message. Holtzmann’s flirting with Erin also adds queer interest to a main character’s behavior.
78%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Not present. Officials hide the ghost threat, and schools reject paranormal research, but these conflicts do not establish an attack on Western institutions or values.
0%
Woke character or canon changes
The reboot replaces the franchise’s four-man hero team with four new female Ghostbusters. The women take over the central ghost-catching roles, equipment, logo, and city-saving action. Kevin also takes the receptionist position previously filled by a woman. These gender swaps reshape the franchise’s main roles around female heroes and male support.
85%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
The female reboot faced a sustained campaign of trailer downvoting and attacks on audience ratings. Complaints accused the film of forced feminism, agenda casting, and making men look foolish. Donald Trump publicly questioned the all-female team. National coverage made the gender dispute a major culture-war story, and later complaints kept it circulating.
95%
Creator track record context
Paul Feig’s stored 61/100 reflects his pattern of female-centered films and defense of pro-women projects. Katie Dippold’s stored 45/100 includes her support for more diverse voices in comedy. Feig’s interviews about this film link its female scientists with empowerment for girls. The broader stored crew has mixed scores, making the strongest title-related signal come from Feig.
55%
Production
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