OLIVER IRVINGāSĀ Ghost Teamāavailable now on Google Play, and playing at Portland's Cinema 21 next weekāsteers toward a crossroads of Safety Not GuaranteedĀ and The Blair Witch Project, but then swerves off course to crash and burn in a field of dumb dudes-calling-each-other-āpussyā jokes. Itās a film about a random assortment of suburbanites who, desperate to prove to themselves that thereās more to life than ritualistic mundanity, ventures into the rural unknown to hunt ghosts. With that easy, breezy premise and a cast of historically funny actors like Jon Heder, Justin Long, and Amy Sedaris, Ghost Team initially seems destined for success.
Alas, itās sabotaged by overly scripted yet awkwardly timed dialogue, a weak romance subplot, and bro humor thatās well past its expiration date. None of Ghost Teamās characters are likeable, except for Longās portrayal of Ross, an overzealous mall cop eager to be a heroāalbeit one with the ultimate goal of proving heās not a āpussy.āĀ Ghost Teamās strongest point is its climactic kicker, when the Scooby gang finds out whatāsĀ reallyĀ lurking in the creaky old barnāwhich makes it even more disappointing that the rest of the movie doesnāt do proper justice to that sharp, creative reveal.