Forgive me for not posting a review in a while, but I have been extremely busy with summer in Cyprus and the limited time I have left this year to enjoy the finer things in life such as sun, sea, friends, family and Greek food. Anyway, when I was offered the chance to watch Matthew McConaughey in another "chick-flick" I almost threw up a little and wanted to almost go back on my plans to go to the cinema.
The thought of sitting through 100 minutes of his usual drivel disgusted me, however I always looked at Jennifer Garner as a pleasing bit of eye-candy. (Please excuse the male-ness in my tone, but it's true, she's pretty). In all, I had the choice to sit through this movie or watch GI Joe, and after hearing poor reviews about that movie, and good ones about this one (mainly from the beautiful Natalia), (not to mention that GI Joe had started already), I accepted my fate, took a big breath and walked into the cinema.
Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past was originally set up at Walt Disney Pictures with Ben Affleck selected to play the lead character. However, budgetary issues, and the failure of Gigli (2003) forced the studio to cancel filming one month prior to shooting (IMDB).
The movie is based on Charles Dickens' age-old fairy tale "A Christmas Carol" about Scrooge at Christmas who is visited by three ghosts (Past, Present and Future). The twist in the story follows Connor Mead (McConaughey) who is infact a modern day Hugh Heffner, with beautiful women on the end of his fingertips (with direct connotations to Scrooge and his money). McConaughey plays the role of a famous photographer who has the ability to use and disgard women as he pleases (an ability every man forced to watch this movie at the cinema will eventually learn to love and even inadvertently learn from).
His brother Paul Conner (played by Breckin Meyer) is about to get married and as taught by his late uncle (Michael Douglas) about weddings and love being superficial and nonexistent entities of life, McConaughey seeks out to "save" his brother from making the mistake of his life. The mistake being that being married, he would succumb to a life of manogamy, a concept of which McConaughey finds both disturbing and impossible to comprehend. He would then revisit his past, present and future to learn the errors of his ways and discover why he ended up the way he did, with the ultimate chance to change as a person for the better.
The following is the film's official trailer:
Now I'm not going to lie... I was virtually dragged kicking and screaming into the cinema to watch this film and I will hold my hand up and say that I actually enjoyed it. My views on McConaughey have dramatically changed and his role as suave ladies-man was a cross between Ryan Reynolds' wit and charm, with Owen Wilson's dry, relaxed style of talking. I found myself laughing at the pickup routines, come-backs and general banter that danced to and fro between Garner and McConaughey. Douglas' role made me (as well as the audience) laugh in almost every scene and played the role of the ultimate ladies-man guru extremely well.
I believe that Garner's acting was slightly wooden and quite similar to her other movies, however this did not deter the movie in the slightest and why I have awarded it an impressive 7/10. I believe the movie would have been a flop if Ben Affleck had taken the reigns as he does not fill the role as well as McConaughey in my opinion. I do recommend watching this movie if you enjoyed the Proposal or Wedding Crashers.
The thought of sitting through 100 minutes of his usual drivel disgusted me, however I always looked at Jennifer Garner as a pleasing bit of eye-candy. (Please excuse the male-ness in my tone, but it's true, she's pretty). In all, I had the choice to sit through this movie or watch GI Joe, and after hearing poor reviews about that movie, and good ones about this one (mainly from the beautiful Natalia), (not to mention that GI Joe had started already), I accepted my fate, took a big breath and walked into the cinema.
Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past was originally set up at Walt Disney Pictures with Ben Affleck selected to play the lead character. However, budgetary issues, and the failure of Gigli (2003) forced the studio to cancel filming one month prior to shooting (IMDB).
The movie is based on Charles Dickens' age-old fairy tale "A Christmas Carol" about Scrooge at Christmas who is visited by three ghosts (Past, Present and Future). The twist in the story follows Connor Mead (McConaughey) who is infact a modern day Hugh Heffner, with beautiful women on the end of his fingertips (with direct connotations to Scrooge and his money). McConaughey plays the role of a famous photographer who has the ability to use and disgard women as he pleases (an ability every man forced to watch this movie at the cinema will eventually learn to love and even inadvertently learn from).
His brother Paul Conner (played by Breckin Meyer) is about to get married and as taught by his late uncle (Michael Douglas) about weddings and love being superficial and nonexistent entities of life, McConaughey seeks out to "save" his brother from making the mistake of his life. The mistake being that being married, he would succumb to a life of manogamy, a concept of which McConaughey finds both disturbing and impossible to comprehend. He would then revisit his past, present and future to learn the errors of his ways and discover why he ended up the way he did, with the ultimate chance to change as a person for the better.
The following is the film's official trailer:
Now I'm not going to lie... I was virtually dragged kicking and screaming into the cinema to watch this film and I will hold my hand up and say that I actually enjoyed it. My views on McConaughey have dramatically changed and his role as suave ladies-man was a cross between Ryan Reynolds' wit and charm, with Owen Wilson's dry, relaxed style of talking. I found myself laughing at the pickup routines, come-backs and general banter that danced to and fro between Garner and McConaughey. Douglas' role made me (as well as the audience) laugh in almost every scene and played the role of the ultimate ladies-man guru extremely well.
I believe that Garner's acting was slightly wooden and quite similar to her other movies, however this did not deter the movie in the slightest and why I have awarded it an impressive 7/10. I believe the movie would have been a flop if Ben Affleck had taken the reigns as he does not fill the role as well as McConaughey in my opinion. I do recommend watching this movie if you enjoyed the Proposal or Wedding Crashers.
