[psmith2.0]

Their biggest misstep was simply hiring four people, regardless of what's between their legs, who aren't particularly funny. That often presents a bit of an issue when you're trying to make a comedy.

There's no reason an "all female" Ghostbusters movie can't work/be funny. It just wasn't going to be that particular effort. Because it wasn't funny at any level. And, deep down, even those who feel they have to pretend otherwise know this. It isn't some "unappreciated gem" or "ahead-of-its-time cult classic" making the rounds, three years later, at festivals or gatherings for various organizations. Nobody gives a shit about it, even those who wouldn't shut up about it on Twitter throughout 2016.

Anatomically speaking, it was the absence of a funny bone - vs. the presence of a uterus - that caused the 2016 movie to suck. And if it makes anyone feel better, had it starred Adam Sandler, Dax Shepard, Carrot Top and Kevin Hart, guess what? That would've sucked too, I assure you. No amount of penis-ry in the world could've made that a success, using the same script/plot. So let's knock it off with all that other stuff that supposedly explained/accounted for its failure. It doesn't fly. Bad movies get greenlit/made/released all the time - hundreds a year - and it doesn't mean anything more than "it was just a bad movie, and everyone can move on with your lives now."

Making a comedy hinging on unfunny people is quite the dice-roll, as it turns out. Industry types and cultural gatekeepers might feel the need to call it "game-changing" and a "brave risk", but I think most would simply view it as a "pointless, unasked-for waste of everyone's time and money" because it failed at the one thing a comedy can't fail at. It's really no more complicated than that.