The less one likes Matthew McConaughey’s romantic comedy persona,
the more one’s likely to enjoy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The
imperfect take on A Christmas Carol still falls for the genre’s
status quo message that love and marriage are the only way. But in
mocking tacky role-playing cliches the movie goes somewhere better:
Dissecting McConaughey’s ladies’ man image in Fool’s Gold,
Failure to Launch and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. In
those films, McConaughey’s dumb glow grew out of control by his lack of
humility. None of those movies are at all watchable for anyone who
doesn’t share his opinion that he’s the most charming man on Earth.
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past sees through the McConaughey scam
with self-deprecating humour (and it is a real performance). There’s
cold wit in his turn as fashion photographer Connor Mead trying to woo
a pop star (Christina Milian) by telling her, “You’re already gorgeous.
Why do you have to be good at two things?” Connor is one of those guys
who’s spent a long time studying Neil Strauss’ The Game, but
when he’s reacquainted with his childhood love (Jennifer Garner) at his
brother’s wedding, he sees the limits of his playbook. As Connor
observes his past mistakes and present reputation, like Ebenezer
Scrooge, the film reaches its own cheap conclusion: Anyone who thinks
they’re happy having carefree sex as a bachelor would really be happier
settling down. But it comes at the virtue of its lead’s psychic
awakening. Director Mark Waters has funny observations about men and
women’s projected social attitudes about sex. It’s cynical enough to be
occasionally bright, and for a McConaughey vehicle, that’s a major
leap.
For showtimes, see Movie Times, page 32.Bah, humbug
at palermo@thecoast.ca.
This article appears in May 7-13, 2009.