Let's bust up some of this election malaise with Kate McKinnon!
October 21, 2016 11:25 AM   Subscribe

 
The best part of Hillary winning in November will be four years of Kate McKinnon's Hillary impersonation.
posted by SansPoint at 11:29 AM on October 21, 2016 [39 favorites]


Remember when they used to actually write movies?

The best part of Hillary winning in November will be four years of Kate McKinnon's Hillary impersonation.

I wouldn't go that far, but it'll be a great perk.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:33 AM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


"I'd like to thank the discoverers of the Higgs boson. All of them! Not just Higgs! Not just Higgs!"
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:37 AM on October 21, 2016 [21 favorites]


I always love seeing stand up types going off like that. I can't think of anything funny ever, and there they are with dozens of lines right off the top of their heads. I'm awed and intimidated. But in a good way.
posted by sotonohito at 11:45 AM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]


She is so good.
posted by Steakfrites at 11:55 AM on October 21, 2016


One of the flaws of Ghostbusters was that McKinnon-as-Holtzmann was so incredibly, amazingly, hilariously awesome that everything and everyone else in the movie just paled whenever she wasn't on the screen.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:00 PM on October 21, 2016 [15 favorites]




Aaaaand now I'm back to writing "Mrs rmd1023 Holtzmann" on the cover of my Trapper Keeper notebooks during high school study hall.

*swoon*
posted by rmd1023 at 12:04 PM on October 21, 2016 [27 favorites]


Faint of Butt I don't know if it's true, since its been a long time since I saw the original, but that's how I remember the original being. I suppose if you were going to try to define any of them as the main character it would have been Bill Murry as Venkman, but Harold Ramis stole the show as Egon.

Same in the new one. I suppose officially it's the story of Erin, but clearly Holtzman is the best character.
posted by sotonohito at 12:05 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


> Remember when they used to actually write movies?

You mean people making up a few funny lines and trying them out to see which worked best?
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:05 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


Remember when they used to actually write movies?

I think this is a joke, but just in case: actors improvising scenes on set is not exactly a new thing.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:06 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


Not everything that was said in the original Ghostbusters was literally written on the page before they started shooting. The new one is no different. Comedians have been ad-libbing in movies since they started shooting talkies.
posted by Strange Interlude at 12:10 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


1. Bill Murray improvised everything.

This was a discovery Jason Reitman made when his father let him see the shooting draft. Almost all of the classic Venkman lines you know and love from the movie aren’t in the final script. “While almost all of the dialogue in original screenplay is echoed on screen, the Venkman character is completely improvised. It’s as if Bill Murray was given a mumblecore-style essay about each scene and then permitted to say whatever he wanted as long as he got the point across,” Reitman told Entertainment Weekly. For example “I feel so funky” after being slimed is his and “The flowers are still standing” scene was off the cuff. The live read inserted the classic improved lines along with the script.

---

BUT ANYWAY. McKinnon is a hilarious genius. That is all.
posted by rtha at 12:14 PM on October 21, 2016 [36 favorites]


Comedians have been ad-libbing in movies since they started shooting talkies.

Marx Brothers movie scripts regularly contained the direction "Harpo does something funny."
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:15 PM on October 21, 2016 [28 favorites]


I love watching the other actors in these scenes, not just for the fact that they aren't cracking up but that they have a range of furrowed, concerned, serious faces - "straight man" stuff that makes Kate McKinnon even funnier.
posted by stevil at 12:21 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]


I LOVE THIS

SO MUCH
posted by kyrademon at 12:26 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


Indeed stevil check out M McCarthy's point. She knows exactly the right time to point at Kate to accentuate the joke as it's coming out. It's like she's setting a comedy chop block. Dope.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:30 PM on October 21, 2016 [12 favorites]


That Ghostbusters didn't gross $1.5 billion is a national disgrace.
posted by theodolite at 12:33 PM on October 21, 2016 [20 favorites]


I have never wanted to marry someone so badly in all my life
posted by Hermione Granger at 12:38 PM on October 21, 2016 [21 favorites]


She was the best part by far of a focus grouped mediocrity that was sold as a feminist vanguard with some poop jokes. It was marketed very, very well by some people who really understand the current tenor of the culture wars on the internet, it was written (but only so-so well) by people who by and large had the same understanding. It's just that they forgot to be funnier.
posted by turntraitor at 12:49 PM on October 21, 2016 [5 favorites]


Oh jeez, I feel really dumb now for thinking the movie was hilarious, thank goodness humor expert turntraitor is here to set me straight
posted by theodolite at 12:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [76 favorites]


don't feed the trolls, m'dude
posted by Hermione Granger at 12:58 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


I just wish it hadn't had so many references to the original; it felt like the studio didn't trust it enough to just let it be its own thing. McKinnon was definitely the best thing about it, but my single favourite joke was Andy Garcia flipping out after Kristen Wiig called him the "Jaws mayor."
posted by The Card Cheat at 12:58 PM on October 21, 2016 [11 favorites]


Please source your quotes, turntraitor.
posted by ODiV at 12:59 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


My opinion is largely in sync with what the Chapo Trap House episode with Amber A'lee Frost said about the movie. It's just not that funny; it is OK in the first 1/3rd, then just gets tiresome.

SPOILERS AHEAD:

Let's just address one facet of the badness; the final boss. It was an ouroborous of keeping the marketing money flowing to the franchise in that regard--no licensing fee necessary, and god forbid they actually make something interesting like Mr Stay Puft up for this one. No, they just decided to go with the ultimate navel-gaze of the fucking logo being the bad guy. And the hilarious way to defeat him is...shoot him in the ghost-balls. Mrs. Traitor and I groaned simultaneously at that one.

I didn't dislike it because it was an all-women main cast; I am a big fan of McCarthy especially (SPY is probably in my all-time top 3 funniest movies ever list) but damn this was a waste of their talents. It was just really not great writing or plotting.

History will absolve me; until then, Jacobin will have to do: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/07/ghostbusters-paul-feig-feminism-mccarthy-murray/

(see the Jacobin article for the admission of fucking focus grouping a movie. this is a big reason why many of these big-budget films suck: they're cringing sycophants to whatever bored people they can lure into a preview screening write on a comment card)
posted by turntraitor at 1:37 PM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]


One of the few movies I feel like owning lately, and watching the outtakes made me want to go re-watch it again.
posted by Peach at 1:37 PM on October 21, 2016 [2 favorites]


Kate McKinnon makes Margot Robbie giggle as well during this bit on SNL. Apparently this happens a lot now? She's so fucking funny.
posted by chunking express at 1:52 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


Seems obvious to me that humor is subjective. I found it to be hilarious. Kate McKinnon was the funniest to my mind, though by no means the only funny part. I enjoyed the call outs to the original film, even though I was never a huge fan of it. I thought that Chris Hemsworth was deadly funny as the dumb blond, and enjoyed seeing the often sexist meme turned on it's head. The other main actors (Leslie, Melissa, and Kristen) were all as funny as I always expect. Your Mileage May Vary!
For those whose taste may be more refined, might I suggest the dry, and subtle wit of Inmar Bergman. I kid! I kid! Don't get mad turntraitor.
posted by evilDoug at 1:53 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]


I thought Hemsworth did a great job, and I enjoyed his bits, except for the ending. The ending was all kinds of screwed up.

I thought the cameos from the original were awful. How do you not give Bill Murray a single laugh line? How is Ackroyd reduced to a punchline that is a verbatim repetition of a lyric from theme song from the first one? HOW THE HELL DID THE THEME SONG GET THROUGH QA? WHO AUTHORIZED THAT SHIT? You know they knew the theme song was bad because they did all they could to lean on the original version and only include the re-make the minimum number of times they were contractually obligated to do so.

I wanted this film to be good. I really did; it just wasn't though. It was muddled and confused, like you'd expect of something that was re-written, re-shot and re-cut at the behest of preview screening focus groups instead of a core group of funny people working in sync, y'know, like the first one was.

This was a core group of funny people working in conditions that do not lend themselves to humor; enormous expectations, a budget so huge it means that people outside of that core group are making big decisions about that film.

This film was bad in many of the same ways that Suicide Squad was, and for many of the same reasons. The fandom is now The Fandom, and they must be catered to, even if that means you wind up putting mayo on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because the formula on your Excel sheet of focus group responses and Twitter sentiment analysis said you should do that.
posted by turntraitor at 2:06 PM on October 21, 2016 [6 favorites]


ohhhhh myyyyyy goddddddddddddddddd
posted by boo_radley at 2:09 PM on October 21, 2016 [10 favorites]


As you will further note, socialist journals will prove out this hypothesis of feminist so called comedy furthermore I
posted by boo_radley at 2:11 PM on October 21, 2016 [15 favorites]


Note to self: work in tumblr critique here???
posted by boo_radley at 2:12 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


turntraitor: we get it. You didn't like it. Maybe this isn't the thread for you, since it seems like the rest of us are enjoying sitting around eating our PB&J&M sandwiches.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:16 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


Did Kate McKinnon improvise more than the others, or can we expect more outtakes like this (please please please)? I can't believe that Leslie Jones clocks in, reads her lines from her script, and clocks out. You know there's more good stuff out there.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:18 PM on October 21, 2016 [3 favorites]


Context is important. You can read some of the comments on the linked YouTube video for that context.
posted by ODiV at 2:25 PM on October 21, 2016


I cried during the big fight scene of Ghostbusters, because I was so happy that I finally got to see a movie where women were the ones in charge and kicking ass, and that I got to take my daughter to it. This was a huge feminist moment for me.

I am a straight-up fan and I would like to talk with other straight-up fans without having to defend the movie, which is gets tedious. Why can't I just like it? If you hear people are having a conversation about how much they liked something, why try to convince them they were wrong?

If this were a post about Ghostbusters as a whole, or a thread about movie criticism, it would make sense to come in and point out what you think the flaws are. But it isn't. It's a silly 10-minute run of goofy jokes.

Let me have this. Go away.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:26 PM on October 21, 2016 [56 favorites]


Remember when they used to actually write movies?
You mean like the hi-larious ghost blowjob scene in the original?
How many dudes did it take to write that golden chestnut.
posted by chococat at 2:29 PM on October 21, 2016 [28 favorites]


I'm impressed at how many of the outtakes are pretty spot on hilarious. And there's a lot of others that seem like good goofing around with friends jokes if not big screen movie joke. I enjoyed this. Thank you for posting!
posted by Zalzidrax at 2:31 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


Kate McKinnon is so good at improv it scares me.
posted by Automocar at 2:38 PM on October 21, 2016 [9 favorites]


Ghostbusters 2016 is a difficult film to criticise. The idiotic man-baby backlash was so strong and so vile that even light, nuanced and thoughtful criticism of the film can sound like you have even a shred of sympathy for their positions, which, just: no.

But the question is - does it need criticising? What do I lose by not voicing my criticisms of it? Even if I do lose something, which I doubt is anything of importance in this case, whose fault is that? It's the manbabies, and not the many people for whom this was exactly the film they wanted, who enjoyed the shit out of it, and found it deeply emotionally affecting to boot.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:44 PM on October 21, 2016 [13 favorites]


This video is amazing. McKinnon of course, but the timing and subtle acting of the others is great too. I would watch the 10 hour version of this video.

I was in my mid-30s before I understood that there was a hi-larious ghost blowjob scene in the original. I'd seen the movie easily 100 times (I only had a vew VHS tapes and a lot of free time). I just thought it was a weird scene that didn't fit or make sense. I'm not so sharp sometimes. It's less hi-larious to me now, but still doesn't make any sense in the movie to me.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 2:47 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


sotonohito: "I always love seeing stand up types going off like that. I can't think of anything funny ever, and there they are with dozens of lines right off the top of their heads. I'm awed and intimidated. But in a good way."

Me too. Disney famously missed out on an Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award nomination for Aladdin because Robin Williams adlibbed so much of lines. Apparently they didn't even bother writing anything for the opening scene of the merchant (voiced by Williams). They just put a bunch of objects on a table; covered it with a sheet; brought Williams in asked him to pull objects out and attempt to sell them in character. Then they threw like 90% of the material away to get it to fit the timeline.


stevil: "I love watching the other actors in these scenes, not just for the fact that they aren't cracking up but that they have a range of furrowed, concerned, serious faces - "straight man" stuff that makes Kate McKinnon even funnier."

Leslie in the lead pipe scenes was great.
posted by Mitheral at 2:58 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


I saw this movie as a dead-on allegory of what it's like to be a woman in academia (you are judged by your appearance! your collaborative work is devalued! tenure requirements are shifting and often based on collegiality! men will try to claim the credit for your work!) and as such, I LOVED it.
posted by TwoStride at 3:01 PM on October 21, 2016 [23 favorites]


I cried during the big fight scene of Ghostbusters, because I was so happy that I finally got to see a movie where women were the ones in charge and kicking ass, and that I got to take my daughter to it. This was a huge feminist moment for me.

Yes. Exactly. That may have been the best part of the film for me (especially this part with Kate McKinnon, the short bit here), because HOW fucking rare is that? And how sad is it that it's that rare? And how long will it take to see a women-kicking-ass scene like that again? I loved the movie and saw it twice (so far).
posted by trillian at 3:25 PM on October 21, 2016 [11 favorites]


There's something refreshing about watching someone being funny without playing into the "hysterical woman" trope. She's always calm, cool, and collected even when the world is turned upside down like in that alien abduction sketch from SNL.
posted by cazoo at 3:36 PM on October 21, 2016 [7 favorites]


We grade everything on a curve and I felt so desperate to see women in anything, and like these specific women enough, that Ghostbusters was enjoyable both times I saw it and the jokes that worked for me landed hard.

It is a very easy film to criticise: They should have spent less, kept the dance scenes in, and given the punchlines and action set pieces more room to breathe. But damn it is a show that for all the worst reasons is without a modern peer.

Don't even get me started on the wave of excitement that ripped through my circles over an autistic coded woman (Holtzmann) getting to be the hero instead of an insulting caricature or target of cruel jokes.
posted by seraphine at 4:33 PM on October 21, 2016 [13 favorites]


an autistic coded woman (Holtzmann)

This is the first I've heard this. I identified with the character a lot and also thought it was great that she was one of the heroes. I had this great feeling when she was not only 'part of the gang' but praised for her contributions and never made to be an other. I didn't make that connection though. Though as I said above I've been known to completely miss things that are far more obvious for 20 or so years
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 5:31 PM on October 21, 2016 [4 favorites]


I just watched the extended cut tonight and only chuckled out loud at two parts near the end, both McKinnon gags.

I dunno, it seemed like it called back when it should have been original and original where it should have alluded, plus it couldn't decide if it was for kids or adults, and it for sure lacked the sense of actually being set in contemporary NYC that the original had.
posted by infinitewindow at 6:44 PM on October 21, 2016


infinitewindow dunno, it seemed like it called back when it should have been original and original where it should have alluded, plus it couldn't decide if it was for kids or adults, and it for sure lacked the sense of actually being set in contemporary NYC that the original had.

I haven't rewatched it, let alone the extended cut, but I really enjoyed what I saw in the theatre. I thought it hit the balance of reverential call-back and new story pretty solidly. That said, I do agree that one of the things it got wrong is that it does not feel like a New York movie, despite allegedly being set there. They filmed most of the scenes in Boston, and boy does it show.
posted by SansPoint at 7:17 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]


yay! McKinnon v. Malaise: McKinnon by a LANDSLIDE.

(is it a little pathetic that I caught myself laughing hardest at hearse-pun jokes? oof.)

I remember watching her (first?) SNL sketch, the Swedish version of Chelsea Lately, and laughing out loud because she was just so hilarious, even as her entire debut was in Swede-gibberish. it was easy to see she'd go far.

not to relitigate Ghostbusters 2016, but I had the exact same reaction as the corpse in the library. that fight scene was GREAT. even as I'm a huge grumpus and CGI-action hater. it was just... women, as people, in full baggy jumpsuits, kicking ass in a popcorn movie. I don't have a daughter, but I truly felt taken over by my inner child -- so proud, so excited, so amazed that it was my first time to see watch something like that on a big screen. I'm glad for Metafilter because I couldn't sufficiently convey to anyone else how happy it made me.

overall, super uneven as a film, but yeah, I'll just chalk it up to studio / focus group b.s., because it was still fun. and I will now pay full nighttime price to see every McKinnon vehicle.
posted by cluebucket at 7:40 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]


Do you have a Coke? I'm hearsty.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:07 PM on October 21, 2016 [8 favorites]


Love Kate (aliens SNL skit, omg) but she mugged waaay too much in the movie. Like she stole every scene and I kept wishing the director had her hold back here and there.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:41 PM on October 21, 2016


turntraitor: we get it. You didn't like it. Maybe this isn't the thread for you, since it seems like the rest of us are enjoying sitting around eating our PB&J&M sandwiches.

HE'S NOT WEARING THE RIBBON
posted by obiwanwasabi at 11:25 PM on October 21, 2016


Not a perfect movie, but that 30 seconds of Holtzmann kicking ghost ass with those electro-whips were sublime.
posted by nnethercote at 2:06 AM on October 22, 2016 [3 favorites]


The fight scenes were great, especially Holtzmann with the proton whips. Shivers. Absolute shivers. Hell, I'd love to go all Starwars Kid of that scene.

A lot of Chinese martial arts movies also feature badass ass-kicking women. Lately, a lot of "cinematographic" and CG/wires, but there is a rich tradition of women practicing Wing Chun and casually* being badass going back to the 70s and maybe even the 60s.

*"casually" as it began as a "woman's style" of martial art and focuses on balance, structure, stance, and calmness, for example sassy Anita Mui in Legend of the Drunken Master. Not to mention (a little more action-ey compilation of) Michelle Yeoh.
posted by porpoise at 9:56 AM on October 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


And you can combine the two of them in The Heroic Trio, which is all that and a bag of chips.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:23 PM on October 22, 2016 [4 favorites]


Holy crap. Ok. So the Kate McKinnon video is funny and all, but just to derail for a moment, that Michelle Yeoh compilation is every kind of ass-kicking ever! I mean, I've seen Michelle Yeoh in a bunch of movies but seeing it all once.... damn. Her kicking technique is absolutely flawless.
posted by wabbittwax at 7:05 AM on October 23, 2016 [4 favorites]


I finally saw this new Ghostbusters mainly on recommendations from here on MeFi. Sadly, it was still a bad movie even when I was trying to like it. Just... yeah, not a good script. No confidence in itself, choppy pacing, shallow characters. Bleh. Disappointment.

BUT, even though it wasn't exactly a blockbuster, it did gross highly enough to avoid turkey status, so hopefully that means we'll get more female-led films and maybe some of them will actually be good, too. Which would be, like, actually great. If my $12 helps toward that, good.

(PS: But yeah, McKinnon was a gem, as always.)

(PPS: Yes, more ass-kicking Michelle Yeoh is always a good thing.)
posted by rokusan at 9:06 PM on October 25, 2016


If anyone's wondering, this is taken from the extra features from the film's release (I've only watched the iTunes versions, although I assume it's on the blu ray/dvd). There's actually about 43 minutes of extended improv for everyone, although the "Holtzmann Gone Wild" takes up a sizable chunk (and it's some of the best stuff, tbh). Other faves such as "The Patty Show" are about 5-and-a-half minutes, "Kevin Unleashed" has four minutes of him doing his best (worst?) assistant-ing, and then there's a glorious eight minutes of "Kevin's Unsuccessful Interview" where the cast struggles -- and repeatedly fails -- to keep a straight face during all the riffing. I'd post links but it seems most sources have been removed, but all the extra features are definitely recommended.

Also, while I liked a lot of the extended cut and wish some had been left in the theatrical version (I will die on the hill of "You're mouthy -- I like that" and the "PROTECT THE BARRIER!" song and dance), I still think the theatrical version is better. Or maybe that's what I'm already used to, so it was a little disappointing seeing some of my fave lines/scenes altered or removed (mostly Holtzmann's).
posted by paisley sheep at 12:19 AM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh, and there's a little over 15 minutes of true outtakes that are worth checking out, too, if only to see how much fun the cast seemed to be having on set and working together.
posted by paisley sheep at 12:24 AM on October 26, 2016


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