Dir.
Mark Waters, US, 2009, 100 mins
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer
Review by Joyce Dundas
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has all the makings of the perfect romcom, but it seems that between script and release something has gone terribly wrong. From the title it's not hard to see it's based on A Christmas Carol, so why the summer release. The beautiful scenery and locations are snowbound, the costumes are winter ones, the gorgeous country house has warm blazing fires, but it's being released in May. And that's not the only problem.
It has everything a great romcom should have. McConaughey, the present king of the genre, plays Connor Mead, a serial dater with no heart, but he does have that history with a lovely girl from home, Jenny Perotti (Garner). There's a family wedding, Connor's brother is taking the plunge, of course in the family home. The bride, Sandra (Chabert), is neurotic, annoying and obsessed with her vision of the perfect day; the rest of her life is just detail. Connor's PA is a smart-mouthed, single, sexy and successful, but under-appreciated, woman. And the bridesmaids, and this is one of those genre rules that is completely inexplicable, are slutty. Oh, and the groomsmen are geeks... newish touch, this time they play with smartphones.
Great casting leads to the eternally handsome Douglas playing Uncle Wayne who brought the boys up in his own particular style. He leads the ghost parade to save Connor from his own moral decline and as the warning voice to help him avoid what was Uncle Wayne's own fate. When he appears, with that distinctive drawl and great one liners, now, he is worth watching. (Similarly, there is a scene with Anne Archer, another classic Hollywood hottie, that is memorable and contains more chemistry between two leads than has been seen on-screen for a long time. Note to their agents: get McConaughey and Archer together again soon.)
owever, if you look at the source material or the cast and try to read more into the film than it can possibly deliver, you will be disappointed. And basically as a romcom, it's a bit ho-hum...bug.
|
