The upcoming Ghostbusters reboot has been nothing if not controversial. Between swapping the gender of the titular team, to accusations of racism against Leslie Jones’ character Patty Tolan, to the simple fact that people don’t want the classic comedy to receive an update, the film has rubbed numerous people the wrong way. The recent trailer did it no favors either, as much of the comedy fell flat and it received widespread panning from the online community. However, according to filmmaker Kevin Smith, that fault lies with the trailer, and not necessarily with the movie itself.
Kevin Smith recently issued a statement on his Hollywood Babble-On podcast condemning the quality of the Ghostbusters trailer, but holding out hope for the movie itself:
Whoever cut this trailer needs to be sat down, and I'm not going to call for their job to be taken away from them but they need to be scolded. It could've been all men with the same jokes, and it still would have sucked. The trailer's not strong, and that doesn't mean the movie's gonna blow, like again the fucking pedigree of this movie is undeniable. There's no way all these people involved don't make a fucking funny, at least watchable fun movie.
We have to give Kevin Smith a fair degree of credit for the way in which he phrased that statement. Unlike many people – who have pretty much panned the trailer as well as the movie – he acknowledges that the trailer’s quality might not necessarily be indicative of the film’s overall quality. It’s a film packed to the brim with some of the most reliably funny actors and filmmakers working today, and as such we hold out hope that the film will actually blow us away when we see it.
What some people also need to remember is that filmmakers often do not cut their own trailers. Hollywood is full of companies that specialize in trailer editing, and as such the process is often outsourced to these specialists. Sometimes that works in a films favor, and often times it does not. Paul Feig and all of the women starring in Ghostbusters may very will bring their A-game and deliver an absolutely hilarious movie, but the trailer may not have sold that.
Listen to the entire clip from Kevin Smith’s podcast below to get a better understanding of his feelings regarding the upcoming reboot:
What did you think of the recent Ghostbusters trailer? Were you a fan or did you hate it? Let us know what you think in the comments and keep the conversation going. As always, we will keep you up to date on all of the latest and greatest Ghostbusters news as it becomes available to us; the movie will hit theaters on July 15, 2016.
