Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
The real thing comes out this holiday season from Robert Zemeckis, but this summer, Mark Waters (“Freaky Friday,” “Mean Girls”) is directing Matthew McConaughey in a modern riff on “A Christmas Carol,” with the hunk starring as misogynistic photographer Conner Mead, who’s in town for his brother Paul’s wedding when he’s visited by three ghosts. Well, four ghosts- the first one is his uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas, in a sleazy and comic turn), a legendary ladie’s man who was something of an idol for Conner growing up after his parents died when he was young.
But Conner wasn’t always this way, as his on-again/off-again antagonism with one-time sweetheart Jenny (Jennifer Garner) knows. But as these ghosts will be showing him, you see how past, present, and future, will have a significant influence not only on Conner but also Jenny. Maybe even Paul (Breckin Meyer) and his fiancee Sandra (Lacey Chabert), whose past might be catching up with them as well.
Is this supposed to be a romantic comedy? I’ll admit, Douglas is good for a few laughs, as is Emma Stone as the ghost of girlfriends past, the embodiment of the first woman Conner had sex with. It didn’t really last that long, but watching Stone in cheesy ’80s teeny-bopper mode is a delightful experience that makes me look forward even more to what we can expect from her in the future. But besides Douglas, Stone, and a couple of clever moments with Conner and the bride’s parents (Anne Archer and Robert Forster), the movie’s a kind of dark look at how self-absorbed and sexist people like Conner are, and why they can’t be trusted in real relationships. On that front, the film rang truer than the otherwise-innocuous “He’s Just Not That Into You” in seeing how men and women have different views of love and relationships.
This isn’t completely a bad thing however, as McConaughey (keeping his shirt on for once) and Garner make this pair one worth rooting for in the end. If you need to know whether they will or won’t, you’re not really paying attention to the type of movie this is. That doesn’t mean it’s a worthless Hollywood product. It’s not worthless, but it is well-calculated to make a few bucks for the H-wood machine.
