Customer Reviews

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I really wanted to love this movie. The idea and cast give it the potential to be a hilarious romantic comedy, but sadly, it isn't.
I love Matthew McConaughey in pretty much everything he's ever been in. He's a good actor, but I really didn't buy him as a charmer in this movie. I really couldn't see why the women were falling for him. He wasn't even slightly charming or likable. He was just a jerk. It made me feel like the writers of this movie thought all women were just idiots ready to fall into bed with anyone.
Jennifer Garner is another of my faves in other movies. She wasn't bad in this one, but it wasn't enough to save the movie.

One thing I did like about this movie was Lacey Chabert. She was very believable as the nervous bride to be. She was freaking out about every detail as many brides do and was a wreck. She gave us some comedic moments and was cute as a button.

I'm glad I only rented this movie from Netflix, so I'm only out an hour adn 40 minutes of my life rather than $20. If you really feel the need to see this movie, rent it before buying it.

I love most movies with Matthew M. in and combined with Jennifer Garner it was wonderful! If you're a fan of romantic comedies, whats not to love? I don't know why other people rated it poorly, it's not meant to be a deep and awe-inspiring movie, it's just a funny diversion from the normal christmas versions. I added it to my small pile of must have movies.

Charles Dickens gave every lazy script writer and theater company a great gift when he wrote A Christmas Carol. The story of Scrooge being forced to examine his life from his hopeful past to his lonely present to his useless end which gives him the opportunity to make a positive change is such a 20th century story of redemption convincing everyone that for maybe one day Freudian psychology not only works but works fast. There have been so many adaptations and modern retellings (I like Scrooged) that it's hard to say which one is the best.

However, we have this movie to see which one is the worst.

So what's wrong with this movie? Matthew McConaughey. I usually find him a pleasantly agreeable actor but the main character of a Christmas Carol adaptation needs to go through a journey. Even at his best, McConaughey doesn't have the acting chops to portray a man who must realize that his life is terrible and accept that he has the potential to change for the better.

And this is McConaughey at his worst. He spends the movie in that annoying genial stoner act that requires an exasperated Kate Hudson to make audiences accept the premise. With every scene he speaks in the same voice inflection and the same easy breezy stoner talk. It only gets more and more grating. Then just as you think he can't get any worse, he is supposed to emote. Faced with this task, he yells and opens his eyes really wide.

There's also a lot of yelling and running around and Michael Douglas is supposed to be Marley's Ghost and it changes Scrooge from a miser to a philanderer but who cares? The movie is basically the experience of being trapped in a room with a stoner friend when you graduated from college and find the whole pot smoking convention rather sad.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was completely panned when it came out, so I avoided it in the theatres. I caught it on HBO recently, and I must say, I didn't think all the vitriol was well-deserved. It's cast well, and though the basic premise is a bit cringe-worthy, I thought it was executed smoothly.

Here's the skinny: Connor Mead (Matt McConaughey) is an insecure teenager who finds the girl that he loves kissing another boy at a school dance. Humiliated, he vents his frustration to his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas). The consummate ladies' man, Uncle Wayne steps in and teaches Connor all the tricks he needs to get what he wants out of women - without ever getting too close. The vestiges of these lessons keep Connor from ever truly connecting to Jenny (Jennifer Garner), the true love of his life.

Years later, when Connor's little brother, Paul (Breckin Meyer), is getting married, Connor travels to the wedding only to be haunted by ghosts of his past girlfriends, who vow to change him for the better.

I thought performances were solid. Though the storyline is trite, the actors did a good job with it. I also thought there was good chemistry between Garner and McConaughey, and Michael Douglas' oily Uncle Wayne gave me some gleeful moments. Go in expecting the standard rom-com, and you won't be disappointed.

I have never liked Matthew McConaughey but I love Jennifer Garner so I gave it a chance.
But this movie is just bad and an insult to the idea of 'A Christmas Carol.'
This just show us what a hack of an actor McConaughey really is

I'm going to state a prejudice here. I'm not a big Matthew McConaughey fan. And this was pretty much a typical Matthew McConaughey movie, so that didn't work so well for me.
Bascially, for some reason or another someone thought it'd be a good idea to mix a chick flick with a Christmas Carol. Basically, he plays a womanizer the whole movie and then in the last 10 minutes were supposed to believe that he's "changed" to be with the girl he always wanted to be with.

Just kind of irritated me.

Considering the idea and a good cast, this film is extremely disappointing. The laughs are very few and the romance isn't engaging, so what we are left with is a pretty flat retread of the classic story of Scrooge. This had some potential, but the writers must have been asleep while putting this one together.

I watched this mediocre movie while on an 8 hour flight to central Europe. I had a choice: I could either watch Ghosts of Girlfriends Past or I could watch Relaxing Themes from Nature - two hours of grass blowing in the wind. Boy do I wish I chose the latter instead of the former.

This movie can be summed up in one word: Suckatious.

Basically it is centered on the wedding of an affable guy, Paul and his bride to be Sandra (the youngest child from that uplifting show Party of Five, the show where all the parents have died and the kids have tragically screwed up lives...). Connor Mead is Paul's chauvinistic older brother who sleeps with every woman shown on screen. In fact, I think he somehow managed to sleep with the woman watching the movie next to me, as she could not stop crooning over Connor (Matthew McConaughey).

Connor goes to the bathroom and runs into long dead Michael Douglas, who plays his Uncle Wayne. The CGI they use to bring Michael Douglas back to life isn't very convincing and, as a matter of fact, I'm not sure why they chose to make him look wooden. "Wayne" tells Connor that he's going to be visited by three ghosts in an effort to make him realize the joy of a loving marriage. After that Connor is visited by a dead chick, a living chick (???) and an angel. Not three ghosts.

From there we see how shallow and vapid Connor is and why he should be detested. I guess the little relationship vignettes were supposed to be funny - they weren't. Jennifer Garner almost redeems the movie when she shows interest in dating a good looking lawyer with a heart of gold. For a moment it looks like she's over Connor and is on her way to meeting Mr. Right. Ah, but then the movie shifts gears, Connor ruins his brother's wedding day and temporarily breaks up Paul and Sandra in a strange series of mishaps.

Jenny (Garner) sees all of this and still gets weak in the knees for Connor. During the climax Connor gives some sort of redeeming speech to Sandra and Jenny realizes that she still loves Connor. Huh? Yeah, his whole slime ball shtick is that he can talk his way into a woman's pants, and bingo, he finally wins Jenny over by, talking his way into her pants (through Sandra). I don't get it.

Not a good love story. Not a good comedy. Not a good sleep aid.

This movie was good only because of the actors within it. otherwise the story is cheesy and over done. but a mediocre mathew movie is still worth a watch. thanks for the speedy delivery.

I just finished watching this movie. I was torn about getting it because it got some mixed reviews. It was a bit corny, but I really liked it. The main character, Conner is indeed quite the jerk, with few redeeming qualities. But it's not all his fault because he was taught to be that way by his now deceased uncle. The ending was pretty easy to guess, but still it was nice. Overall a good and enjoyable movie to watch. I'm glad I got it.