MovieMantz Review: 'Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'

By Scott Mantz

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- "Don't Be Scrooged by 'Girlfriends Past'"

"Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"
Matthew McConaughey , Jennifer Garner
Directed by Mark Waters

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Let's just cut to the chase: "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" is a lame, laugh-free and utterly charmless affair in which Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner are severely lacking in the on-screen chemistry department. The prospect of giving the Charles Dickens classic "A Christmas Carol" a contemporary spin as a romantic comedy may have looked good on paper (or did it?), but on the big screen, it amounts to the cinematic equivalent of a lump of coal.

McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a celebrity photographer whose talent for snapping pictures is surpassed only by his talent for bedding women. Romance is not in his vocabulary, which explains the long trail of ex-girlfriends that lie in his wake. The only woman who ever mattered to him was Jenny ( Jennifer Garner ), Connor's soul mate who long ago resisted his alleged charms and came to be known as "the one who got away."

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When Connor travels to his brother's wedding, he gets a second chance with Jenny. But he doesn't see it that way at first, until he gets a wake-up call from his late Uncle Wayne ( Michael Douglas ) -- the legendary player who, sadly, taught Connor everything he knows. When Uncle Wayne summons the ghosts of Connor's past, present and future, they take him on an eye-opening journey that will hopefully make him realize that Jenny was "the one" for him all along.

In order for a romantic comedy -- or any movie, for that matter -- to work, everything has to fall into place. Unfortunately for "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," nothing really does. The screenplay -- co-written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (who previously co-wrote the dreadful "Four Christmases") -- never catches fire, and McConaughey plays such a shallow slimeball that you hope he and Garner never end up together (not the feeling you want from a romantic comedy).

Not even Michael Douglas can save the movie, though he certainly tries to as a tan, sunglass-wearing ghost who resembles Robert Evans. The real scene-stealer here is Noureen DeWulf, who pulls double-duty as Connor's over-worked assistant and the Ghost of Girlfriends Present. But even that's not enough, and coming from director Mark Waters (whose previous hits included "Freaky Friday" and "Mean Girls"), I just felt Scrooged. Ba-humbug, indeed!

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Verdict: SKIP IT!

Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Matthew McConaughey & Jennifer Garner's 'Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past' Hollywood Premiere
PLAY IT NOW: Jennifer Garner & Matthew McConaughey Talk 'Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past'

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