Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

I’ve learned my lesson. I will always walk into a movie screening an hour early. Sitting in the second row is not very easy on the eyes. Luckily, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was fun and decently written, so I didn’t mind the two hour neck gymnastics too much.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is planted around the upcoming wedding of Paul (Breckin Meyer) and Sandra (Lacey Chabert). Paul invites his older brother Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey), the infamous photographer and bachelor, who openly boycotts anything concerning love or marriage. What happens is exactly what you would expect from the films title; a few ghosts show up from Paul’s past to change his life.

The plot is based on the well known story A Christmas Carol, but it does differ a fair amount. What it has is certainly more humorous then a family in poverty and a grumpy rich man ruining everyones life. The jokes are pretty funny and I found myself laughing more times than not. What I wasn’t into were the moments where Mr. McConaughey tries to portray the more emotional side of a scene. It was like his character never ever felt troubled or changed in anyway until maybe the last scenes of the film. Fortunately though, he does have a very talented female co-star who picks up the slack whenever she is involved.

Jennifer Garner plays Jenny, the only girl that truly knows and can somewhat handle Connor. Every scene she’s in feels very natural, like it has the perfect mood and tone. She gives credence to Connor’s story and the rest of the film while offsetting the goofiness of Mr. McConaughey. I think it was a great casting choice, so a pat on the back to whoever made that decision. A few other actors get some funny roles as well. Michael Douglas ends up playing Connor’s mentor Uncle Wayne while Emma Stone (Superbad, The House Bunny) plays one of Connor’s girlfriends.

At times the dialogue is really fresh, but other times it slips into the cliché romantic comedy zone. The bright side is that the film knows what it is. It pokes fun at itself more than once with montages sound tracked to 80′s songs and tribute scenes to its Scrooge-filled predecessor. I had a great time sitting through this movie but when you can’t be a frivolous money spender, it’s hard to pick and choose. In the end, I can’t say that you will miss out on anything by not seeing this in the theaters, even though I did actually enjoy it. Come on economy, lets get through this together…with some Cyndi Lauper to guide our way.

_Gregg