Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

There are a few laughs in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, to be sure; you can even hear them over the sound of Charles Dickens spinning in his grave, as womanizing photographer Connor Meade (Mathew McConaughey) gets the Christmas Carol treatment and is visited by four ghosts -- his old mentor and representatives of the past, the present and the future -- on the eve of his brother's wedding. There are a couple of standout performances, as well -- and a nice bit of career-judo as overly-charming, kinda-unlikable Matthew McConaughey plays an overly-charming, kinda-unlikable character -- but the movie ultimately doesn't quite work as well as it could, in one of those clear cases where you feel like you can lay the blame fairly firmly at the feet of the screenwriters.

The movie wastes no time in establishing Connor as a bad lad cad -- he's picking up photography subjects, breaking up with other women three at a time -- and sees him head out to his late Uncle Wayne's estate for his brother's wedding. Connor doesn't believe in marriage -- "love is magical comfort food for the weak and uneducated ..." -- and while his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) is used to Connor's nonsense, the bride (Lacy Chabert) and her family and Connor's ex Jenny (Jennifer Garner) aren't so crazy about it.

So the ghost of Uncle Wayne materializes -- Michael Douglas as a '70s ladykiller, shades and turtleneck and a drink in his fist -- telling Connor he's going to be visited by three ghosts to tell him why love matters: Womanizing's fun, Wayne points out, but "When the music stops and you're looking for your slacks, none of that stuff matters a lot." The ghosts are played by Emma Stone as the past -- a curly-haired reincarnation of Connor's first lover from high school, clad in acid-wash and brilliantly bubbleheaded -- as well as Noureen DeWulf as the present (she's also Connor's assistant Melanie, and the film leans on her a bit too much for "I-have-a-wacky-accent" comedy) and Olga Maliouk as the silent ghost of the future.

And the fact Maliouk is silent is in keeping with the Dickens tale, as is McConaughey's head-out-the window moment ("Boy! What day is it?"). There are some nice supporting turns, too, like Robert Forster as Chabert's Korea-vet Marine dad ("We never got a movie. We never got a wall. ..") and Daniel Sunjata as the guest who may be Garner's reception-eve hookup. And we kinda-sorta buy McConaughey's transition, and we very much get Garner as a woman scorned enough to be bitter but who's only bitter because she truly cared.

In fact, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is a movie more undone by minor mis-steps than by big errors: a phony scene here, a hollow line there, a curiously flat ending (or, rather, series of endings). But it's fun to watch Douglas play a leathery lounge lizard, and Stone's bubbly, bouncy '80s holdover gets plenty of laughs. Garner surprises as well, turning what could have been a thankless role into a real performance that supports the curve of the film. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past isn't awful, but it does contain just enough brilliance that you can see where it could have been much better -- which, in many ways, is even worse.

Director Mark Waters did a better job with the supernatural comedy in the surprisingly good Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis remake of Freaky Friday -- but that's because the body-swapping was rooted in character, not simple flailing. Screenwriters Scott Moore and Jon Lucas gave us the similarly-flawed Four Christmases, another movie that confused activity with entertainment.At one point, Connor walks through a gallery of his exes, and they have some unbelievable stories -- so we don't believe them, and the over inflating of the joke bursts the story. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past could have done a better job if it had focused on making McConaughey's character more real so that the fantastic visions and scenes might have mattered more; as it is, the film's a ghost of what it might have been.

Comments

[Spaz]

Overly-charming, kinda-unlikable is the best way I've ever heard Matthew McConaughey described. So true. Thank you, I may use that.

[jal]

There was a funny scene in a Family Guy episode where Stewie tells M.M. how much his acting s()cks. I don't know if M.M. was voicing himself or not.

[Livia]

This movie Ghosts of Girlfriends Past looks good. I heard this movie will be available at any Redbox location on September 22nd and then I will rent it then or sometime after that date because this movie really looks great. I haven't seen this movie yet but we will see if my mom and I will like it.

[Livia]

I finally got to watch this movie, horrible film! Just horrible and plain stupid, I wouldn't be getting this film on DVD. I've seen better romance, sci-fi\fantasy films. Jennifer Garner could've do a better performance, it's not her best and same with Matthew McConaughy could've done better but the acting was decent. I love Jennifer Garner's acting and Matthew's acting but in this film, they just didn't get you in the movie that much. The worst romance film I've seen this year and plus it was boring-there was no action. A decent film, I would give it a D-.