Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Matthew McConaughey stars as Connor Mead, a self-absorbed, womanizing fashion photographer who has hated the notion of commitment ever since getting life lessons as a teen from his Hugh Hefner-like uncle Wayne (played by Michael Douglas). Connor is quite content to go from woman to woman, and doesn’t even bother pretending to respect them or anything. In fact, he breaks up with three of his current flings on a conference call — with each other.
Now Connor is on his way back home for little brother Paul’s (Breckin Meyer) wedding to Sandra (Lacey Chabert). Of course, since Connor dismisses monogamy out of hand, he tries to get Paul to rethink the marriage. Fortunately, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner), one of the bridesmaids and a childhood friend of Connor’s, is there to rein him in at least for the time being. The wedding will proceed as planned.
During the rehearsal dinner, Connor has a bit too much to drink, and sees a vision of long-dead Uncle Wayne in the bathroom. Wayne tells him he’s going great, but he’s soon supplanted by Allison (Emma Stone), who will take him to revisit the ghosts of girlfriends past to show Connor exactly how his callous actions affected some of the girls he has hooked up with.
Anyone who knows the plot of A Christmas Carol by Dickens knows how the rest of the story plays out. Connor sees how much he has hurt people, realizes that he has always loved Jenny, and gets a glimpse of the cold, lonely future that lies ahead if he doesn’t reveal his true feelings to her. This being a romantic comedy, everything works out perfectly for the main characters.
My Reaction: I mostly saw this movie for Jennifer Garner and Lacey Chabert, since I really don’t like McConaughey at all. He plays the exact same jackass buffoon in all of his movies, and it’s getting pretty tiresome. I can’t believe that he keeps on getting all these leading roles. Are his films even successful? I know a lot of women think he’s good-looking, but he always looks a bit greasy to me. Ugh.
Anyway, I was surprised by Chabert here. I loved her as the bridezilla! Her tantrums were the only laugh-out-loud scenes in the entire film, so I’m thankful for that. Unfortunately, I thought Garner was wrong for the Jenny role. Connor had dated nothing but a string of supermodels, so it didn’t seem right that Garner (as Jenny) would be his type. I’ve loved Garner since her Alias days and think she’s above average in the looks department, but she’s not a stunner. Connor seemed like he was into the babes with super-fine bodies and not much going on upstairs. The pairing just felt off.
I can’t complain too much about the plot. I mean, with a title like Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, the viewer pretty much knows what’s in store. No room for surprises there.
Overall, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past was rather mediocre. There weren’t many funny scenes, there was zero chemistry between McConaughey and Garner, and the plot was obviously recycled. This might be ok for a rental, but don’t waste your $10 seeing it in theaters. I give it 2 stars out of 5.