42 Insightful “Ghostbusters” Reviews From Actual Adult Males On Facebook Who Definitely Aren’t Sexist

The all-new lady-centric Ghostbusters came out last weekend, inspiring positive reviews from people who liked it, as well as negative reviews from people who didn’t like it. Both of those groups have been sharing their feelings on this matter on the official Ghostbusters fan page, which was originally created for fans of the original film. 25% of the comments about the remake are vomit emojis and reminders that Ghostbusters made less money last weekend than The Secret Life of Pets, 50% of them are positive endorsements of the film from people of all genders, 5% are women who hated it and 20% are men who hated it. The excerpts on this listling come, of course, from that last group. (This is not to say that all women liked the movie, or that disliking the movie is anti-feminist. But this IS to say that a lot of the men who hate the movie are misogynist mansplaining asshats.) (Oh yeah; and a lot of the people who hate it are also mean and racist!)

Below please witness excerpts from comments left recently on the Ghostbusters Facebook page, ripped mercilessly out of context but mostly presented in their entirety. I have edited some of these comments for clarity, grammar and spelling. Some of the misspellings and bad grammar I left intact for artistic reasons.


1. Call it what it really is: Malebusters

2. As a man I refuse to watch. The whole “feminist agenda” doesn’t appeal to me.

3. This movie was made by women wearing strap-ons and guys wearing dresses! Lol!!!

4. Who you gonna call? Someone else

5. Just watch Scooby Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed. It was the exact same movie complete with fart jokes. The Ghostbusters themselves seemed a ripoff of the whole Mystery Inc. gang. Just like Scooby, the Leslie Jones character would find the ghost and run in fear being chased by the ghost back to the group. Kate McKinnon could be labeled as Fred: blond hair, sometimes scarf around her neck. Kristen Wiig in the roll of Daphnie, the damsel in distress. Melissa McCarthy as Velma: book smart, complete with glasses. Chris Hemsworth was Shaggy: dumb and carefree, even came with properly timed sandwich-eating. They could have just cast Seth Green as the creepy weirdo villain guy for another cameo bit. The whole script was hollow and full of cheap gags just like Scooby Doo. Just my opinion.

6. We’ve read the emails — we know you forced Ivan Reitman out. We hate you Sony.

7. Emphasis on the boooooo

8. Women feel the need to bully men into having a positive opinion about a movie, otherwise, disagreeing makes them “manbabies.” Meanwhile, other genders are able to act as nostalgic, geekish, childish in their entertainment favorites as they like, and it’s considered perfectly fine.

9. And the trophy for the most misandrist movie of the year goes to ….. ghostbuster 2016

10. This movie deserves an award.. – WORST MOVIE OF THE FKIN CENTURY

11. If [Kate McKinnon] spent as much time in the kitchen as she did trying to do a man’s job, we could get more accomplished.

12. These four women aren’t funny of what I’ve seen in the five trailers that I’ve seen.

13. I would rather watch a 24-hour Richard Simmons marathon in a rainstorm with jumper cables attached to my nipples than watch this movie

14. It bombed big time. Like worse then Jem did. Like worse then Gigli.

15. My band is named after the creature that wreaked havoc during the 3rd reconciliation of Gozer the Destructor. With that said, I’m not watching this til it comes out on DVD.

16. I just seen a bunch of women that wished they were as good as men. Terrible movie.

17. Wow! What a pathetic attempt by feminists. Going to start a petition to get my money back.

18. Should have listened to fans instead of pandering to Twitter feminists.

19. If I found a free copy of this movie in the street, I wouldn’t walk it the next few steps to the garbage can. Oh, that’s a lie. I hate litter. I’d be a good citizen and chunk it.

20. I’m surprised they didn’t show all these ladies cats?

21. Nothing makes me want to see a movie quite like being told to “get over it.” That alongside “women are funny” “women rule” “women women women” really drives home the point that this movie is all about the fact that the new Ghostbusters are women.

22. This is not Ghostbusters, this is just a big nothing compared to the ORIGINAL. WHERE ARE MALE PEOPLE. And don’t act like womans are better than males. It’s tied between the two so stop please.

23. I left to get popcorn and the claw machine was more entertaining.

24. I will see this piece of garbage about the same time when Joel Schumacher apologizes for the two Batman movies he did…

25. There are plenty of women who aren’t better than me but can do better things, there are plenty of women who make more money than me but aren’t better. There are plenty who I make more than but I’m no better. I won’t give in imagine if Lord of the Rings was remade in a few years because… women empowernent.

26. Feminists everywhere insist everyone is sexist, but it’s sexist for people to be producing all-women films when the characters were male to begin with. Honestly, people are pretending to like this BECAUSE it is women. (That’s sexist too.)

27. I had the choice of: working in 100-degree weather and 100% humidity mowing the lawn, pressure washing the house and painting the deck OR seeing this movie. Yard and house look real nice.

28. They shouldn’t have tried to remake a classic, and insert socio-political propaganda into it as well…

29. Okay Ghostbusters, why did you think this was going to work? A group of feminist ghost-catchers? Complete fail and I didn’t even see it. The previews were enough.

30. SONY handing out those checks for positive revues…

31. Thats totally how restaurants drum up business, whats that you dont like pizza? Well your sexist and racists against Italians then

32. Now that The Sisterhood Of The Traveling Ghosts has proved to be garbage can we please get that ghostbusters movie that was promised to be for actual fans?

33. Films like this one, is the exact reason females aren’t taken more seriously in Hollywood.

34. Anyone who wastes their money on this abortion is a fool.

35. I hope she gets proton cancer from licking those guns

36. I saw the movie GHOST IN THE SHELL witch isn’t trash and is actually entertaining

37. All a positive review does is prove how easily a small mind is amused.

38. Cutting my toenails with a butter knife would be a more entertaining and satisfying way to spend the evening.

39. It’s a action chic comedy ,not bad ,not good …Only thing I like was seeing the original Ghostbusters and Sigorney weaver ..some where middle end ,got to predictable and lame .Positive thing I can say ,as a writer …the writing was good, the acting good ,the blonde ghost buster chic. ..crazy hot ..Thor was good as secretary ,but girls saving NYC nope ! Not convincing.

40. It’s hard to take anyone seriously who looks like a bunch of rejects from Whataburger

41. They deleted my comment… Hiding the truth.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Riese

Riese is the 41-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3164 articles for us.

81 Comments

  1. 1. Malebusters = WOULD SEE.

    5. Thank goodness he specified that this is, “Just my opinion.” I was pretty sure up until that point that he was quoting The Bible.

    9. God I hope this isn’t *really* the most misandrist film of the year! Surely we can do better.

    12. I dare you to try to read your own comment 5 times fast.

    13. You do you, bro. That sounds super kinky and definitely NSFW, but you do you!

    17. Start that petition. Invest yourself in it 100%. Do nothing else and most importantly speak to no one until you succeed.

    19. There’s some dog shit on the sidewalk outside my place just waiting for a good citizen like yourself. Come by any time.

    20. Don’t worry bro, I am sure all these ladies have seen cats before. But it is kind of you to want them to see one in person. Very thoughtful.

    23. Unfair comparison. The claw machine is a gripping tale of suspense and disappointment. If you wanted a drama, you should have just gone to see a drama.

    27. A home, an able body, and expendable funds to see (or not see) a movie? You are truly #blessed, bro.

    29. May I one day fail as hard myself.

    38. Maybe you should talk to #27, I bet he could afford to buy you toenail clippers.

  2. “9. And the trophy for the most misandrist movie of the year goes to ….. ghostbuster 2016”

    This is a compliment, tbh.

  3. Good luck with that petition buddy !

    (Also yes please to more movies made by women wearing strap ins)

    • I mean you could’ve instead you could go (back) (re)watch ghostbusters to give more money to misandrist women wearing strap ons and men wearing dresses soooo…

      I know those are tough choices

  4. Okay but I would love to see an all-female cast of Lord of the Rings. Well, maybe not ALL female because that would take away from Eowyn’s story a bit as Eowyn’s story only makes sense for a woman in a patriarchal society, but like, a mixed cast would be cool! Merry and Pippin as ladies! Samwise and Frodo are lesbians!! Gimli daughter of Gloin! The Witch-Queen of Angmar!!! I’d be all about that tbh and it sounds like a better LotR than the current canon, esp if the whole cast isn’t white because wow does LotR have a lot of issues with race and racism.

    • I would 100% support a female LOTR cast! When he said that I was like… and? Your problem?

    • I think that if a bunch of women made and starred in Lord of the Rings it would have been a satisfying and entertaining 27 minute art film, diversity powered and superbly performed with sass, style, tease, slam poetry, dance and Auslan with a finale of a super funky showgirls wearing red sequinned flaming va jay jay head pieces!…….

  5. Number 25 seems a little confused. Bless him.
    37 is a classic mansplainer and 39 is EITHER a certifiable twazzock or a comic genius:
    ” .Positive thing I can say ,as a writer …the writing was good, ”
    Wow. Get a load of that shit tip of a contradiction :p

  6. I know #20 about their cats was supposed to be a dig but I’m super here for marketing that’s just footage of the Ghostbusters playing with cats. Or interviews with the actresses about cats. Or footage of any cats they might have. Kate McKinnon has a cat. Make this happen.

    • instead of tackling ghosts, they are just turning those machines on all the f*cking cat hair in their apartments while their cats look on.

  7. I praise Sony for taking a widely popular franchise like Ghostbusters and rebooting it with a hilarious female cast, however, taking cheap digs at men throughout the entire movie is unnecessary and regressive. The blatant misandry in this movie is shameful. I’m sure you’ll say that women have been exposed to misogynistic films forever. That is of course true, but one has nothing to do with the other. It would be nice if we could build each other up to equality instead of bringing each other down.

    • That being said…this list of 42 comments is largely misogynistic…which isn’t very good…

      • I’m glad to feed your anger and personal vendettas. You have all written some real witty comments to get your point across. Bravo. I know you hate men to the point where you will sacrifice your morals to do so. The way you generalize men is petty and attacking me personally for sexism in society is unjustified. I too think Stefs pic is hilarious! I’m just not offended anywhere near as much as that guy looks or as much as you’d hope I am. Im actually having a lot of fun!

    • Joshy – can call you Joshy? – “One has nothing to do with the other” is such a silly statement, but you probably don’t know why. Let me help.

      You wrote it as it is, but women read it as, “Women have complained about misogyny for centuries and we still live in a world that treats you as second-class citizens in largely every arena, but this one time a bunch of men got their feelings hurt because they experienced this slightly, once, so let’s stop the Earth from turning to FIX THIS TRAGEDY FOR THE MEN and fine, if it fixes things for women, whatever.”

      That’s why no one will take your argument seriously.

    • Hey Joshy you say we should build each other up but I’m not sure white straight men need to be built up any higher than they are right now. I mean what’s next they’re gonna feel entitled to mansplain to us why we can’t have nice things like misandrist movies ?!!!

    • Or Joshy, guys could just “take the cheap jokes” just like girls have taken the cheap jokes from the beginning of time, instead of being all high-minded when you get a little “pay back”.

    • Well, actually, Joshy, the thing is that you should go back into the kitchen and make me a sandwich and stop commenting about things which are clearly too complicated for your pretty little head to understand. (That is what actual sexism sounds like, FYI,Joshy). Joshy, you should really just ignore people like me who are trolling you. From my experience, that is the best thing for you to do. ;)

      • Okey, not that anyone needs me hear to challenge Joshy (because most of you have done a fine job of that already and yes Jo troll should be ignored) but after having seen this movie I’ve got to say: “Is it Man-bashing?-Please!

        So Chris Hemsworth is depicted as kind of a dumb character and so are a lot of other men in this movie. There were a lot of dumb male characters in the first movie! You see dumb characters of both sexes who are the butt of jokes in comedies all the time.

        More importantly even if I did think a leading character in this movie was a men basher (and I don’t) that wouldn’t matter to me they was still a well written character. Just because the movies lead is sexist doesn’t me the whole movies is or that the character is badly written. In the first Ghostbusters Peter did come off as a sleaze, but he was still a funny, well written character. Several other characters call him out being not good at his job and just being pervy. It not like most stories are designed for us to totally go along with their protagonist, especially in comedies.

        Plus, if you want to find a movie with women as the bad of jokes (well written or not), there are tons of examples to pick from. Yet it’s rare I hear anyone say, “

        • Opps forgot to finish that last part. It’s rare you hear anyone say, “Oh it was well written and funny, but all the cheap shots at women just ruin it.”

    • Thanks for tuning in to see Joshy hunt misandry! Next on Joshy’s list: The battle against “reverse-racism”. Later, he’ll be continuing the search for the Loch Ness monster! Make sure to catch all the latest!

    • There is no doubt that people of female gender at one time had to live in a society which oppressed and discriminated against them. Then a bunch of brave people lashed out against it and almost won until another bunch of gender haters and opressors took over. Now it is back to the same way it used to be with movies like Ghost Busters 2016 promulgating the hatred against men. When is the gender hatred going to end?

      • Aw, it must be so hard being you… being oppressed by wimminz on the internet talking about a comedy film… you poor, poor dear. You’ve never had a chance in life have you?

  8. The most misandrist film of the year, made by women wearing strap-ons?!

    I think these male people were trying to dissuade others from seeing the new Ghostbusters with these “reviews,” but now I just want to see it even more!

  9. And here I thought that Neanderthal males were extinct! ….Well, I guess there was another “presumptive” hint…..

  10. Sisterhood of the Traveling Ghosts is the best thing I’ve ever read

    L o L over here !!!!

  11. I think I’ll see Ghostbusters again a couple of times just to annoy these reviewers :)

  12. So, I actually clicked on this article/post thinking autostraddle found positive quotes from folks who actually liked the film. But alas. Sarcasm. So I am wondering what the point of posting these really depressing quotes was? It would have been more helpful (and more positive) to post 42 “GB was rad!” quotes or 42 “why GB should have been better” quotes. Just saying. We have enough hate spewed on us already rather than have a cool website help us find it. :-(

    • I can definitely understand that. I generally try to avoid stuff like that too (though I realize it’s cathartic for some folks sometimes to just laugh at that sort of idiocy).

      Anyway, here you are: Ghostbusters really was rad. I had a lot of fun watching it. And the ear worm theme song gets stuck in my head really easily. =)

  13. Someone please start writing the script for Malebusters, I bet it would win the most misandrist movie award!

  14. I probably will not have the time/opportunity to actually go see the movie again any time soon but I am tempted to buy some tickets anyway just to give it more box office receipts and piss these dudes off even more. Like seriously, I will donate $30 in unused movie tickets to this cause.

  15. 25. Oh God, please yes! With all the roles gender swapped and 90% of them women of color!

    Actually, forget the swapping… keep the female characters intact so we can gay it up more.

    I also vote Helen Mirren for Gandalf, but we need a scene with a bikini… because reasons.

    • Helen Mirren shouting “you shall not pass!”
      Helen Mirren’s “run you fools”
      We need this NOW

      • I’m just imagining Helen Mirren soaring down the chasm, clutching Glamdring in mid-flight, and battling the Balrog to the death…

        We need this sooner than now. :D

  16. Okay, I’m gonna rewrite those comments the way they should have been made.
    1. This movie is so great it deserves to be called “Malebusters”. Also, this is a goos name for another potential movie.
    2. Thankfully, this movie has femimist agenda and wasn’t made to appeal to males (solely).
    3. This peace of art is so fabulous it could have been created by drag queens and women wearing strap-ons.
    4. Who you gonna call? Jillian Holtzmann.
    9. And the trophy for the most misandrist movie of the year goes to… Ghostbusters 2016. Which is why we love it.
    11. If Kate McKinnon spent as much time in the kitchen as she did trying to do “a man’s job”, she would beat them in that area as well, maybe even better.
    16. I’ve just seen a group of women showing that they are “as good as men” (and not second-class citizens) and demanding to be recognized as such. Wish there were more of those.
    20. You know what would be cool to show in this movie (or many other movies)? Cats. To go with their badass owners.
    21. Nothing makes me want to see a movie quite like the fact that men, not women, have to “get over it”.
    22. “Where are male people”? No, really, I want to see more movies that would prompt this question.
    23. People who left during the movie were the kind that gets more entertained by claw machines.
    25. Imagine if Lord of the Rings was remade in a few years because… women empowerment. Hell yes! Ghostbusters brings such sweet, sweet fantasies…
    28. They not only did a remake of a classic, but also brought attention to current socio-political issues.
    38. Some guys who express their dissatisfaction with this movie also entertain themselves by cutting their toenails with a butter knife.

  17. I’m in love with the comment about the gender balance being sexist. The lack of self awareness is delicious.

    Though seriously, women love gender swapped versions of all male classics. Just look at fanfiction.

  18. my thoughts and prayers to these poor male critics who are suffering through these hard feminist times.

  19. “This movie isn’t about me. Wah. Everything is supposed to be about me.” – Every review listed.

    • “The first longitudinal to study examine the origins of narcissism shows that parental overvaluation of children increased the risk of their becoming narcissistic. This supports the social learning theory rather than the psychoanalytic theory of the origins of narcissism…When narcissists don’t get the special treatment they think they’re entitled to, they become angry and aggressive; they lash out at others in an aggressive manner.”

      –How to Raise a Narcissist, published on MedScape, and an accurate reflection of how the patriarchy has failed entire generations of men and boys, now playing out on a Twitter feed near you.

      (just sayin.)

      http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/841417

  20. Agreed… The vast majority of those comments were ill conceived and misogynistic. As a man who firmly believes in universal equality my opinion is this: I didn’t like the movie. The original was funny but had a subtlety and seriousness that made it endearing. I felt like this movie was trying to be so slapstick that I couldn’t emotionally invest in any of the characters. To the point of misandry, I do believe this movie is an example. Every male character was an idiot. I would understand if this were a modern day satirical remake of a truly misogynistic film but the original movie had strong female roles. True, the protagonists were men but the women were strong and represented a spectrum of women. Janine the receptionist was quirky, smart and unafraid to stand up to the male heroes of the story. Dana Barret was the damsel in distress BUT was talented, smart, critical and courageous. Gozer the Gozarian was a woman (or whatever she wants to be) and was the embodiment of power. The counterparts of each of these strong female characters in the remake were absolute socially maladjusted buffoons. There are many more examples but for arguments sake let’s just say I was actually really excited for this movie and excited for the female cast but was left disappointed and at least a little insulted. Having said that…. Movies are art,they reflect whatever story the makers want to tell. You don’t have to agree with art to validate it. I didn’t like it but to those who did, who cares? We all have the right to enjoy our dislike what we choose.

Comments are closed.