Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – 2009

July 5, 2010 by JT
Filed under Film Reviews

I wasn’t expecting much from this one, if I’m honest I wasn’t entirely sure watching a rom-com alone was such a good idea, surely I needed my wife next to me to hold hands with. But Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was actually pretty good, and well above what I was expecting!

Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) is living the single high life, he has a great job and is followed by a string of women with whom he goes through faster than a box of Kleenex.

When he attends the wedding of his younger brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) he is visited by three ghosts who show him the true value of love and what he might miss out on if he never commits to a long meaningful relationship.

However, the one girl that got away Jenny Perotti played by the gorgeous Jennifer Garner is also at the wedding and Connor must visit his past, present and future to realize that Jenny is and always was the one for him.

The film plays on the Dickens style Christmas Carol plot, but Connor Mead is certainly no Scrooge. He’s a player and after getting his fingers burned he is brought up by his playboy Uncle Wayne (his parents died when he was young), humorously played by Michael Douglas.

Uncle Wayne teaches him all the tricks of the single mans trade, and to great effect. The scenes with McConaughey portraying himself as a child are fun and hit the heart strings as well as the funny bones. While the storyline is predictable and follows the rom-com script down to the last letter (the guy gets the girl) it is light hearted enough that its not to be taken too seriously.

There is a good supporting cast, especially Douglas whose wit and charm as the ghost of Uncle Wayne is executed very well, and Superbad’s Emma Stone who comes back as an 80s styled ghost, inspired no doubt by Madonna. For all it’s worth and efforts GOGP just about scrapes over the line as an above average rom-com.

View the trailer