Supernatural Silliness (Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (DVD))

Member Name: JayHall1991

Product:	Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (DVD)
Date:	11/06/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Jennifer Garner's face

Disadvantages: almost everything else

Connor Mead loves his life; he gets all the beautiful women he wants, he has a great job as a fashion photographer and enjoys the bachelor lifestyle. But when his younger brother decides to get married to his highly strung fiancée Connor decides that he must stop the proceedings and prove to his brother that he is signing himself up for a life of monogamous misery. However, at the wedding Connor is confronted by Jenny, the only girl he ever loved, who is the maid of honour and desperate to make the nuptials go off without a hitch. However, when Connor's behaviour threatens the happiness of his brother forces far stronger, and more supernatural!, than Jenny are out to make him accountable...

Ghosts Of Girlfriend Past is pretty much the same old romantic comedy jazz, predictable, silly and paint-by-numbers unoriginal, but it is also a fairly fun and inventive version of a well worn theme with some nicely judged performances and a few twists which keep things interesting. It's hardly grounbreaking and fails to provide anything truly moving or engrossing but its just about charming enough to get by unscathed and actually says some interesting things. By using Dickens 'A Christmas Carol' and updating it into the contemporary dating world the film has an inbuilt intrigue to it and the screenplay does a relatively decent job of creating laughs and tears in equal measure. It's never very believable and it fails to offer anything exceptionally clever or diverting with too much inane slap-stick and not enough actual content but there are some sweet/sad moments that are at least superficially resonant and Jennifer Garner does her best to bring some emotional weight to the role of Jenny. Of course none of it is half as heart warming as it thinks it is and the inevitable ending rings a bit hollow but taken for what it is, a frivolous, superfluous but uplifting exercise in cheese, it isn't all that bad.

The main problem with Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is that it never really gets away from the slightly misogynistic and unpleasant undertones which lay beneath all the schmaltz and decelerations of true love. Connor isn't a very nice person, he treats people badly and doesn't care about other peoples feelings, yet we are supposed to root for him as a romantic lead; he is supposed to find redemption in the knowledge that he does actually love somebody, but the truth is that he doesn't deserve that love. The screenplay, penned by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, does a solid job of establishing Connor as a nasty cad but doesn't fully convince us that he is a viable and interesting love interest - there are a hundred other, more loving, people who Jenny could fall for. Some character development is weaved throughout the story to give him some semblance of three dimensionality but it just doesn't ring true... I understand that it's necessary to paint the lead in a negative light so that his transformation is more surprising but we aren't really given a reason to care about what happens to him. However, the script in fairly even and consistent with some fun comedic set-pieces which warrant some genuine laughs and a one genuinely emotional sequences. The film also contains some surprisingly acerbic and witty nuggets of dialogue that really help liven things up; the early interactions between Jenny and Connor are sarcastic, spicy and allow for romantic tension which really works. The script is also pretty pacey and does a god job of rounding the story off in a conventional and shallow but pleasingly romantic manner.

Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past looks really good; the special effects are largely impressive, the make-up extremely realistic, the sets unrealistically stunning and visuals pretty. Mark Waters, a rom-com veteran, does a great job of establishing a fun aesthetic but doesn't really pump much life or energy into the proceedings; there are some moments which could have been genuinely heart-warming, but they fall to the waste-side because they aren't directed with any seriousness. It's almost impossible for the audience to become invested in the characters when they aren't given any emotional weight or charm. Waters seems to be directing by number here; not putting any real effort, which is a real shame because the premise has real potential and for someone who has had such a long career in the romance genre he doesn't make the film's more romantic sequences very memorable or special. His direction just reeks of laziness and it seems to bring the whole thing down. However, he does direct the film's sillier aspects, which usually involve some elaborate slap-stick situation, with some panache and style. He seems more at ease with banter between the characters and the more obviously funny elements of the screenplay but just doesn't provide the flick with enough heart for it to be anything more than saccharine. The film feels as if it has something missing and I have a felling that can be put down to Waters lack of directorial finesse.

Matthew McConaughey is as unpleasant, wooden (surely it would be cheaper to stick a plank of pine in front of the camera?) and slimy here as he is in every other film but that actually adds to the character of Connor; McConaughey is believable as a rude and emotionally devoid womaniser and so he does a good job of bringing the character to life. Having a romantic lead who the audience are supposed to hate could have been a risky move but he does a fairly decent job of making the character distasteful but with enough quirk and charm to make his transformation at least a little convincing. He seems very adapt at physical comedy (bringing one potentially stupid scene a bit of vivacity and energy) and delivers the scathing dialogue between Connor and Jenny with an effective amount of venom. He isn't a very commanding screen presence and gets out acted by absolutely everybody in the cast but he is an appropriate choice for the shallow role. I am more than a little bit in love with Jennifer Garner and here she is, as always, a charming, appealing and sweet presence. She isn't given a huge amount to do, but she manages to brings some poignancy and resonance to Jenny (with one scene which is genuinely upsetting) and is a more than effective romantic entity. She always brings a lot of energy and humour to her roles and, although Jenny and Connor's relationship is never particularly convincing, she tries to bring a lightness and grace to the film, she is also very sharp with the comedic timing. Garner is one of the few highlights of the film, although she really needs to pick some better roles, along with the funny and interesting performance delivered by Michael Douglas who roots for both comedic and dramatic gold as Connor's play-boy uncle.

The sad thing about Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is that it could have been a lot more; the relationship between Connor and his younger brother, played ably by Breckin Meyer, is the true romance of the piece and is written with a good shot of emotion and talent. The idea of breaking negative cycles of behaviour is also quite well done, mainly because of Douglas's astute portrayal, and proves that there is actually a story at the heart of Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. If it had dared to do something a little different, muddy the genre conventions a little or allow the characters to step out of two dimensionality, then there could have been a real tale to tell here. If the screenplays more engaging themes had been allowed to be more prominent then it would have been a film about making a new life for yourself and learning from your past mistakes. But as it is Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is just a fairly damp rom-com.

Summary: A silly and shallow modern rom com