Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Brothers)
The Sleaze Factor Is High
In Ghosts of Girlfriends Past Matthew McConaughey plays a womanizer so callous he would put Hugh Hefner to shame. He has been taught all of his values and tricks by his uncle, played by Michael Douglas in full Bob Evans getup. These two are so good at being bad they raise the sleaze content to a record high. But in doing so they lose their audience.
Connor Mead (McConaughey) is a love em and leave em type of guy. He believes in sex but not in love, and he believes in one night stands but not marriage. Therefore he is reluctant to show up for his brother Pauls (Brecken Meyer) marriage to Sandra (Lacey Chabert). Still family is family so off he goes.
At the wedding he reunites with Jenny (Jennifer Garner) his possible one true love. They were childhood friends who were also at one point romantically involved. Still there are a lot of other lovelies at the party to hit on and Connor doesnt waste any time.
What stops his march through the wedding party is the appearance of his dead uncle Wayne (Douglas). He tells Connor he is going to be visited by three ghosts during the night and they are going to show him the failure of his ways. And that sets up the movie.
McConaughey is great at being vile and repulsive. He is so convincing you never buy his turnaround at the end. Plus you never accept his new found love for Jennie. It all boils down to a good performance in a bad role.
Garner is just wasted in the role of Jennie. She and McConaughey dont have much on screen chemistry, and she looks washed out. Maybe his being so tanned and healthy looking makes her look pale and wan by comparison. Talk about tan, Douglas looks like he has been living in a tanning booth.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity and sexual situations.
Robert Forster is from some other movie in his role as the Marine type father of the bride, and Anne Archer is on full cougar patrol as the mother of the bride. Lacey Chabert is shrill and shrieking as the bride.
There are some fun moments in the movie and some touching ones too, but overall this is just a slimy slide through one characters love life. McConaughey needs to find something new to do. These romantic comedies are all merging into one big blob of a career for him.
I scored Ghosts of Girlfriends Past a passed by 4 out of 10.
