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Movies / On DVD / Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)

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Reviews Counted:133

Fresh:36

Rotten:97

Average Rating:4.2/10

Consensus: A retread of A Christmas Carol, featuring Matthew McConaughey in a retread of his Dazed and Confused role, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past lacks originality, humor, and any semblance of charm.

Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for sexual content throughout, some language and a drug reference.

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:01-05-2009

Synopsis: Celebrity photographer Connor Mead (MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY) loves freedom, fun and women...in that order. A committed bachelor with a no-strings policy, he thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple... Celebrity photographer Connor Mead (MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY) loves freedom, fun and women...in that order. A committed bachelor with a no-strings policy, he thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple women on a conference call while prepping his next date.

Connor's brother Paul is more the romantic type. In fact, he's about to be married. Unfortunately, on the eve of the big event, Connor's mockery of romance proves a real buzz-kill for Paul, the wedding party and a houseful of well wishers -- including Connor's childhood friend Jenny (JENNIFER GARNER), the one woman in his life who has always seemed immune to his considerable charm.

Just when it looks like Connor may single-handedly ruin the wedding, he gets a wake-up call from the ghost of his late Uncle Wayne (MICHAEL DOUGLAS), the hard-partying, legendary ladies man upon whose exploits Connor has modeled his lifestyle. Uncle Wayne has an urgent message for his protege, which he delivers through the ghosts of Connor's jilted girlfriends -- past, present and future -- who take him on a revealing and hilarious odyssey through a lifetime of failed relationships.

Together, they will discover what turned Connor into such a shameless player and whether he has a second chance to find -- and this time, keep -- the love of his life.

New Line Cinema presents a Jon Shestack/Panther Production of a Mark Waters Film: Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in the romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The film also stars Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone and Michael Douglas.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is directed by Mark Waters from a script by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore, and produced by Jon Shestack and Brad Epstein. Executive producers are Marcus Viscidi, Mark Waters, Jessica Tuchinsky, Toby Emmerich, Cale Boyter and Samuel J. Brown, with Ginny Brewer as co-producer. The creative team includes director of photography Daryn Okada, production designer Cary White, editor Bruce Green and costume designer Denise Wingate. Music is by Rolfe Kent. Executive music producer is Ralph Sall.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. --© Warner Bros [More]

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Emma Stone, Anne Archer, Robert Forster, Amanda Walsh

Director: Mark Waters

Director: Mark Waters
Screenwriter: Scott Moore, John Lucas
Producer: Jon Shestack, Brad Epstein
Composer: Rolfe Kent
Studio: New Line Cinema

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Reviews for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato
3/5

Rich Cline

A watchable pastiche of A Christmas Carol, this rom-com resorts to corny slapstick a bit too often but also manages to find moments of real resonance

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 28 2009 05:05 PM

Shadows on the Wall

splat
2/5

Andrew Osmond

Let's be clear: this is trash, not very funny and sometimes jaw-droppingly insulting.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 12 2009 12:20 PM

SFX Magazine

splat
1/5

Edward Porter

The whole concept founders on McConaughey’s unalterable cheesiness. Flimsy though it is, the film has a couple of okay jokes, and might have been passable with a more endearing star.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 07 2009 01:49 AM

Sunday Times (UK)

splat

Philip French

Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol has been endlessly remade. None so far has been as bad as this unpleasant comedy.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 07 2009 01:39 AM

Observer [UK]

splat
1/6

David Fear

There’s precious little to laugh at – not the lead’s one-dimensional swagger, Michael Douglas’s Rat Pack-meets-Robert Evans jive talk or an anti-misogyny parable with the gall to make every female a neurotic shrew or a sex-starved harpy.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 06:38 AM

Time Out

splat
2.5/5

Holly Grigg-Spall

How very dull it is to watch movies in which the men are lost little boys and women their sanctified saviours. It's demeaning to everyone.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 06:24 AM

Channel 4 Film

splat
2/5

Wendy Ide

Any film starring the self-regarding, teak-veneered charisma vacuum that is Matthew McConaughey has more to overcome than most. So the fact that the rom-com Dickens riff Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is even sporadically entertaining is no mean feat.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 06:03 AM

Times [UK]

splat
1/5

Peter Bradshaw

How crass and joyless the whole business is, culminating in a love-declaration scene prefigured by McConaughey knocking an elderly man unconscious, to get the boring, obstructive old dude out of the way. Yikes.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 04:45 AM

Guardian [UK]

tomato
3/5

Tim Robey

Comfort zones don’t come much plusher than the one habitually occupied by Matthew McConaughey, who must read the words “arrogant, torso-flaunting alpha male” in script synopses and think: “That’ll do.”

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 04:35 AM

Daily Telegraph

tomato
3/5

Elliott Noble

Director Waters pulls out the odd cracker, injecting Dickens’ timeless story of redemption with a healthy dose of self-awareness.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 04:10 AM

Sky Movies

tomato
3/5

Neil Smith

As much as you’d love to hate it, this jaunty supernatural romcom remains a polished, amusing, surprisingly sweet diversion.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 03:57 AM

Total Film

splat

Christopher Tookey

In the worst performance of his career, McConaughey plays Connor as so insufferable that Jenny would obviously be much better off with somebody else. Anybody else. Even Russell Brand.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 03:47 AM

Daily Mail [UK]

tomato
3/5

David Edwards

Alas, it swiftly ditches the pithy asides as it hurtles towards its treacly ending.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 03:42 AM

Daily Mirror [UK]

splat
2/5

McConaughey is so used to playing the rogue he has forgotten how to be likeable.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 03:26 AM

Sun Online

tomato
3/5

Martin Hoyle

The film cuddles its Dickensian soft centre in a Mills & Boon soft casing. Où sont les wisecracks d’antan? Almost extinct.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 03:05 AM

Financial Times

tomato
3/5

John Walsh

There isn't an original thought in the film, but it bounds along amusingly.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 02:57 AM

Independent

splat
2/5

Allan Hunter

Romance may be alive and well but the charming, well-made romantic comedy continues to look like an endangered species thanks to Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 02:48 AM

Daily Express

splat
2/5

Derek Malcolm

Though it pours the sentiment on at its conclusion, Waters’s film has a nasty misogynist edge, suggesting that women are gasping for cads such as Connor to seduce them.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 02:22 AM

This is London

tomato
3/5

Matthew Turner

Enjoyable, well acted romcom that pushes all the right emotional buttons, though it's not as consistently funny as it should have been.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 02:05 AM

ViewLondon

tomato
3/5

Alistair Harkness

We end up with the expected platitudes on the importance of commitment, but the getting there is unusual, enjoyable and sporadically funny, enlivened by Waters' knowing way with genre conventions.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 01 2009 01:44 AM

Scotsman

 
 
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