Who you gonna call? How to make Ghostbusters 3 great

In theaters Friday: Burn After Reading, Righteous Kill, The Women

New on DVD: Baby Mama, The Fall

First of all, we are still without electricity here at Movie Filter HQ in Southdowns. I tell you this not to engender sympathy, but as an explanation both for a lack of any Movie Filter action last week and for not having any new reviews to post this week. The fact is I’ve only managed to rewatch High Fidelity and The Bourne Ultimatum on laptops last weekend having to switch mid-way through both movies to computers with more battery power.

So I haven’t seen anything new lately, but there was one really interesting piece of movie news that caught my eye. Columbia Pictures has contracted Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, both writers and co-producers of The Office to pen a screenplay for Ghostbusters 3. Seriously! Not only did this news surprise me, but how excited I was at reading it surprised me, too. Hey Variety, now that you mention it, I REALLY DO want to see another Ghostbusters. I’m so excited, I’m Netflixing the original this week. Whether I’ll have the electricity to watch it is another issue.

So here’s what happened: Dr. Egon Spengler himself, Harold Ramis, has directed several episodes of The Office recently, and even though Bill Murray has been lukewarm on the idea in years past, Ramis and Dan Akroyd have always wanted to suit up their proton packs for another go round with Slimer. So what are they aiming for here? To avoid the inevitable backlash and a missed opportunity, here are my suggestions for making Ghostbusters 3 a blockbuster and a whole lot of fun.

1. Retire the geezers. Appearances by Akroyd, Murray, Ramis and Ernie Hudson should be kept to a minimum. Maybe make either Akroyd or Murray significant to the plot in some way, but keep the rest as unexpected cameos. Murray actually works well with inconsequential, non sequitur roles. His scene in Get Smart was one of the film’s funniest moments.

2. Bring in a virgin and his co-workers. Three of the new Ghostbusters should be the cast of The 40 Year Old Virgin: Steve Carrell, Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd. These guys have chemistry in spades, and will have a lot of fun with it without making fun of it—an important distinction when remaking a classic or, in this case, producing a “passing-the-torch” film. While I’m a fan of Virgin’s other star, Romany Malco, I’d like to see a riskier choice to round out the new quartet…

3. Give Eddie another chance. Back in 1983, when Eddie Murphy was actually funny, he was offered a role in the original Ghostbusters. Hot off the heels of Beverly Hills Cop, he passed. Now the guy who hasn’t done anything interesting since 1999’s Bowfinger would be an idiot to decline. This could really give his career the jumpstart it needs. I think Ramis and Akroyd were right back then: Murphy would make the perfect Ghostbuster. And call me crazy, but I still think he has it in him. If his character is well-written, Murphy is perfectly capable of bringing the cutting sarcasm that Murray did so well in the original, and bringing down the house.

4. Cut to the chase. Spending the first 20 to 30 minutes of Ghostbusters 3 explaining how the originals are retired and showing how the new guys got the job will drag the film down and bore people to tears. The first scene in the movie needs to have some ghosts and Carrell and his crew need to be the guys bustin’ ’em. What happened to the originals must be shown later, and only as their characters are needed to move the plot forward. A smart script is key.

5. Get me the Reitmans! Ivan Reitman directed the 1984 original and its 1989 sequel, and while Ramis may be tempted to direct this one since he’s basically resurrected it by himself, he needs to remain an actor and script-polisher here. Harold, think of yourself as head of quality control, not the captain of the ship, OK? Cool. What I’d like to see is Ivan Reitman co-direct with his son, Jason Reitman. That way we get the old-school feel of the series injected with some fresh ideas from the young director who brought us Juno and Thank You for Smoking.

6. Mouse in the house. Almost as important as the plot is the Ghostbusters theme song, which earned Ray Parker Jr. a No. 1 hit for three weeks back in 1984. The original is great, but could use updating. If Danger Mouse remixes Parker’s version, not only will it hit the top 10, it’ll be a perfect way to mix the old and new and introduce a new team of Ghostbusters.

So that’s my list. What would you like to see happen in Ghostbusters 3, and who should star in it? Comment below.