Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Usually guys are not the first ones to like any romantic comedy – definitely not more than girls atleast. Yet after watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, we two guys thought the movie was quite decent entertainment while the missus blew off the movie completely !! Turns out that the disappointment was mainly because of how jaded Matthew McConaughey looks :)

Which is true ofcourse – Matthew McConaughey hardly looks anything like the most sexiest man of 2005. Maybe because he never gets an opportunity to take his shirt off ! Nevertheless, the tongue-twistingly-titled movie turns to be a good timepass even with an less-than-original idea. It manages to combine the good old playboy-having-a-change-of-heart with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Those who don’t remember it, it’s a famous Christmas story when a miser is visited by three ghosts on Christmas to show him the mistakes that he has made in his life.

Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey) is a brash fashion photographer and womanizer par excellence – with no qualms about dumping girls the minute they want a little cuddling/commitment. He arrives at his kid brother’s wedding and runs into the bridesmaid Jenny (Jennifer Garner) - his high school sweetheart. However old habits die hard and soon Connor is the wrecker-in-chief of the wedding. Till he gets a visit from his deceased uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas) – his idol and master womanizer himself.

And then the ghosts take him on a journey to his past – to see how he became what he became. Interwoven with these flashbacks are hilarious incidents of the wedding itself – and on the whole the script has enough intelligent bits to keep you engaged. The movie makes for some decent watching till the sentimental stuff starts - after which its not horrible bad, but it moves on predictable lines and doesn’t surprise you anymore.

Matthew McConaughey is on easy territory here – a supercool dude who has girls hanging from his coat tails. But there doesn’t appear to be any effort from his side to do something a little differently – except looking quite old I suppose. And joining him is Jennifer Garner, who also looks kinda aged. Michael Douglas however looks as cool as usual. The girl who plays Sandra does the hassled bride rather well too.

All in all, another decent romantic comedy to put you in a cheery mood if the likes of Sikandar or Kaminey are too dark for you.