WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Ghostbusters: Afterlife, now playing in theaters.
As much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe has epic endings, it's known for some misses. Not every movie can hit the emotional highs of Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther, with James Gunn's first Guardians of the Galaxy film -- as good as it was -- botching the end. That was due to the MCU's most idiotic move from Chris Pratt's Star-Lord. Come Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this approach to saving the day gets remixed in the finale.
In Gunn's 2014 movie, Star-Lord distracted Ronan the Accuser, who was hellbent on destroying Xandar and then going off with the Power Orb to wreak havoc across the cosmos. Star-Lord used a bevy of cheesy moves from the '80s, making it clear he'd win this dance-off in a totally ridiculous moment.
It was quite a gamble as the stern Ronan was never going to partake in the competition, but it paid dividends as it allowed the heroes to destroy the villain's hammer, take the Infinity Stone for themselves and kill him. However, it didn't register well for some fans, who felt it was stupid and something that made Ronan look like a buffoon, even if they appreciated the comedy.
This dumb Hail Mary strategy is now followed by Mckenna Grace's Phoebe, the granddaughter of the famous Ghostbuster, Egon Spengler, in the dusty Oklahoma town of Summerville. She realizes Egon secluded himself there to stop Gozer from coming through the mines, but sadly, Phoebe and her friends can't prevent the gateway from being opened after the Terror Dogs possess her mom, Callie, and the kids' teacher, Gary.
Gozer's portal allows ghosts to start wrecking the town, leading to Phoebe sneaking into the lair to try to distract the evil god. As the youngster slowly walks out, she starts telling bad jokes -- her modus operandi in Ghostbusters: Afterlife to show she can be sociable. However, only the science nerds, Gary and Podcast, laugh at them.
Unfortunately, Gozer's disgusted by the child's poor attempt at humor. But it's a misdirect as Podcast uses a remote control to send a mobile ghost trap out and suck one of the Terror Dog's spirits in, freeing Callie. This allows them to regroup and use Egon's farm -- a giant ghost trap -- to defeat Gozer. But it doesn't change how Phoebe's stand-up failed to resonate amid such high stakes. It breaks Ghostbusters: Afterlife's serious tone at that point, feeling like the awkward weapon Star-Lord used in Guardians.
Ultimately, it's another idiotic, risky move, plus, like Ronan, audiences don't get why Gozer doesn't crush her as the demonic entity sees the kid as an ant. More so, the dogs should have ripped Phoebe apart, but this bad comedy's a bit of plot convenience so they can free Egon's daughter and push the plan he conceived years ago into play to save Earth.
To see how Phoebe sucks at comedy like Star-Lord did, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is in theaters now.
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