Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Article By: Nils van der Linden
Mon, 18 May 2009 15:04

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past scores 2.5/5

As ‘The Dummies Guide To Making A Romantic Comedy That Rivals The Success Of A Lot Like Love’ will tell you, every self-respecting romcom needs the “Trio of Triumph”.

There’s the story: make it predictable — boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. There’s the cast: the more people on the following list you can get, the better — Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Kate Hudson, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Ashton Kutcher, Paul Rudd, Ryan Reynolds. And there’s the title: it has to be vague, meaningless and so interchangeable that it’s easily confused with a successful film like ‘Love Actually’.

‘Ghosts of Girlfriends Past’ gets that all wrong. Sure, the familiar plot’s in place and McConaughey’s smarmy grin leaps off the poster, but the title tells it like it is.

Shamelessly ripping off Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ this is the story of womanising bastard Connor Mead who’s shown by, yes, some ghosts of past girlfriends just how he became such a womanising bastard.

Somewhat misleadingly, though, not all the spirits are his of exes. There’s the first girl he kissed, still dressed as if it’s the early ’80s. And there’s a bar counter stretching to near infinity occupied by his one-night stands. But acting as spiritual tour guide is the dead uncle who raised him, the Hugh Hefner wannabe with a taste for the ladies — yet now with some new wisdom to impart.

Of course — and this bit wasn’t exactly taken from Charlie — everything plays out at a wedding attended by, no less, the first and only woman Connor ever truly loved. Will he get hammered and destroy the wedding cake? Will he grope the mother of the bride? Will he cause the wedding to be called off? Or will he finally hook up with his childhood sweetheart, Jenny Perotti?

As per ‘The Dummies Guide’ there are no surprises here, except that a real charm sparkles through all the familiarity. The dream sequences — shamelessly silly and self-deprecating — dilute the drama.

And Michael Douglas is a hoot as the dead uncle, gamely lampooning the sex-addict persona he brandished circa ‘Fatal Attraction’ and ‘Basic Instinct’. This leaves McConaughey to be McConaughey and Jennifer Garner to be perfect (ie beautiful, intelligent, level-headed, charming, a doctor…)

Ghosts aplenty for sure, but romance isn’t dead here.