Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert
Director: Mark S. Waters
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Fantasy Comedy, Comedy

A bachelor goes to his younger brother's wedding, where he is visited by the ghosts of his past girlfriends.




Ghosts of Girlfriends PastCritic Reviews: Claudia Puig

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past probably won't scare up many laughs. Nor will it make you long for past or future loves. It just makes you yearn for Matthew McConaughey to wipe that smirk off his face.

Ghosts can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a racy raunchfest or a sentimental celebration of soul mates. So it ends up being a sappy, sleazy hybrid.

McConaughey reprises his cocky "player" persona to limited comic success. The lasting image after seeing it is his blindingly white teeth.

The formulaic story evaporates faster than cotton candy, and it's often as cloyingly sweet and tacky.

Womanizing photographer Connor Mead is the sort of guy you'd warn your sister, daughter or best friend about. His relationships often last only minutes, and he has several going on at once. He has been known to break up via conference call and "in bulk" seconds before setting up his next date.

In contrast, his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) is the settling-down type. He's about to marry Sandra (Lacey Chabert), and Connor is his best man. Returning to their childhood home brings memories flooding back for Connor. One that looms large is his affection for his childhood friend Jenny (Jennifer Garner). But while he's being rakish, cynical about marriage and generally putting a damper on the pre-wedding festivities, he is visited by the ghost of his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), a hard-partying playboy who taught Connor everything he knows. Douglas' sunglasses-wearing cad is one of the movie's few highlights, along with Emma Stone as the ghost of Connor's first girlfriend.

From his initial encounter with his deceased uncle, Connor visits old and present girlfriends and gets a glimpse of his future in a gimmicky mangling of A Christmas Carol. Jennifer Garner is low-key and appealing, but she's not given enough to do and deserves better material. So funny and endearing as a romantic lead in 13 Going on 30, Garner is mismatched here and lacks chemistry with McConaughey. Ghosts' focus is Connor's unconvincing redemption and transformation from love Scrooge to good guy. Garner's character seems almost incidental.

McConaughey's laid-back style and Texas drawl is meant to be charming and likable, but he comes across smug and unsympathetic. The role isn't much different from every other one he has done (except for his turn in Tropic Thunder, his funniest to date).

The story is hackneyed and tiresome, bouncing from one witless and wince-inducing situation to another. There's little romance or comedy in this predictable and leaden rom-com.