Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Movie Review

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas
Direction: Mark Waters
Genre: Romance/Comedy/ Fantasy
Rating: /**

You pretty much know what to expect from this fantasy-filled romcom before you see it and you get what you expect too, although it all seems too wishy-washy and banal for you to actually feel for the film or its playboy protagonist.

High profile celeb photographer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) takes immense pride in his ‘Playboy’ image as well as ‘sex maniacal’ reputation until his brother’s marriage forces him to look in the eye of his first love Jenny (Garner). Connor eyes Jenny differently but feels he’s way too corrupted and late to understand ‘feelings’ and ‘marriage’. He also can’t figure out why his umpteen girlfriends find it difficult to swallow the fact that he likes all the women in the world. Connor breaks-up with women on conference calls and in fact changes girlfriends faster than tissue papers but does he regret it? No. Connor worships his late Casanova uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas) and his Hugh Hefner like ideals until the very uncle’s ghost along with the ghosts of Connor’s past girlfriends start haunting Connor, forcing him to change his ways.

Performances are impressive but when it comes to story, it just seems like a fantasy version of Mills and Boon’s one of the most clichéd love stories – Playboy finally mending his womanising ways for one woman he truly loves. The setting of the film which happens to be a wedding too puts you off as horny bridesmaids, hyper paranoid bride and confused groom is not something you haven’t seen in American films before.

The director dishes out his story in a novel way by introducing ghosts in the film and thus inducing some light hearted humour but the treatment manages to amuse you only for a while.

The past-present shuttling in the film is what acts as its saving grace. The film takes Connor and thus you on a journey to his innocent childhood, vulnerable adolescence and then a cocky youth where over-confidence results as a defence mechanism more than anything else.

Douglas portrays his Morgan Freeman like character with panache and comes with winning one-liners like, “Women like to be screwed but not screwed over” thus doing complete justice to his flamboyant role. Jennifer Garner is natural and Matthew with his killer looks and body language manages to make this film likeable inspite of its drawbacks. The two lack great chemistry though.

If you too get haunted by your past, this film is a decent watch to attain nirvana!