On a more critical note, Janet Maslin said Murray's talents were in service to a film lacking wit or coherence. She noted many of the characters had little to do, leaving their stories unresolved as the plot began to give way to servicing the special effects instead. For Maslin, "Ghostbusters" worked during the small ghost-catching scenes, but was out of hand during the apocalyptic finale. However, she did praise Weaver's performance as an "excellent foil" for Murray. "Variety" said "Ghostbusters" mistakenly had top comedians but often had them working alone, calling it a "lavishly produced" film that is only periodically impressive. "Variety" also singled out Murray for his "endearing" physical comedy and ad-libbing. "Newsweek"s David Ansen enjoyed the film, describing it as a teamwork project where everyone works "toward the same goal of relaxed insanity"; he called the film "wonderful summer nonsense". Pauline Kael had problems with the chemistry among the three lead actors. She praised Murray, but felt other actors did not have much material to contribute to the story; she concluded, "Murray's lines fall on dead air."