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WARNER

MOVIE INFO

Director:
Mark Waters
Cast:
Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Emma Stone, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer
Writing Credits:
Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

Tagline:
You can't always run from your past.

Synopsis:
Connor Mead is the kind of guy who dumps three girlfriends. At the same time. By teleconference. So when he attends his brother's wedding he has a single goal: score with the only bridesmaid he somehow missed. But the ghost of his departed Uncle Wayne - who taught him to love 'em and leave 'em - has another goal in mind: restore Connor's lost faith in true love, a tough assignment requiring the services of many, many Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas and director Mark Waters uncork a romantic romp as bubbly as wedding-toast champagne. It's the perfect comedy for anyone who believes in laughs and love. Or needs to.

Box Office:
Opening Weekend
$15.411 million on 3175 screens.
Domestic Gross
$52.236 million.

MPAA:
Rated PG-13

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Widescreen 2.35:1/16x9
Fullscreen 1.33:1
Audio:
English Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 100 min.
Price: $28.98
Release Date: 9/22/09

Bonus:
• Previews


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic 50" TH-50PZ77U 1080p Plasma Monitor; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

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Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past (2009)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (September 10, 2009)

If there’s a less ambitious actor in Hollywood than Matthew McConaughey, I can’t think of him. McConaughey seems to play nothing more than cocky studs in romantic comedies. Even when he broadens slightly into more action-oriented movies such as or Sahara, he continues to take on parts in which he a) comes across as arrogant and self-absorbed, and b) takes off his shirt a lot.

2009’s Ghosts of Girlfriends Past seems like such a cliché “McConaughey Vehicle” that it borders on self-parody. Connor Mead defines “love ‘em and leave ‘em”. He’s such a cad that not only does he dump three women at once, but he does so via a teleconference. When Connor attends his brother Paul’s (Breckin Meyer) wedding, he does so out of a sense of morbid obligation, though he still hopes to convince Paul to stay single and avoid the horrible fate of matrimony.

When he gets to the wedding, though, Connor’s life takes an unusual twist. He learned his roguish ways from his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), and his uncle’s ghost comes to him to convince him to change his ways. Wayne warns Connor that three ghosts will visit him and show him his sins. Accompanied by various spirits, Connor journeys through time to see his interpersonal relationships over the years and where he went astray, especially as his connection to bridesmaid Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner) works.

Earlier I accused Ghosts of being a by-the-numbers romantic comedy, I suppose that’s not entirely true. It’s a by-the-numbers romantic comedy that rips off A Christmas Carol. I guess that makes it a little unusual, as it’s rare to find something that reworks Christmas Carol but otherwise has no holiday connection; Ghosts takes place in the winter, but it otherwise lacks a Yuletide link.

And it otherwise lacks any real originality. The Christmas Carol link gives the film a couple of minor self-referential laughs, but it can’t really spice up what is essentially a standard romcom, especially since the film takes so many odd liberties and boasts so many inconsistencies.

In that vein, I planned to pounce on Ghosts for its casting of McConaughey and Meyer as brothers separated by only five years. I still think of Meyer as playing high school kids, and I believed he was substantially younger than McConaughey. As it happens, he’s exactly five years younger, so score one for accuracy.

Unfortunately, other chronological liberties make less sense. Paul’s fiancée Sandra looks to be mid-twenties, which is logical since Lacey Chabert was 26 when they shot the film. However, it gives her a father who fought in the Korean War! Last time I looked, that conflict ended in 1953, so that’d make her dad mid-seventies. Sure, guys still have kids at 50, but it still seems like an odd choice to make, especially since Robert Forster was just 12 when the war concluded. The writers do it solely so they can throw in some combat jokes, but they’re not worth it.

That’s a minor liberty, but the more perplexing one comes from Jenny’s age – and her presence as maid of honor period. Jenny is clearly a good 10 years older than Sandra and her bridesmaids, but the film makes no attempt to explain this situation. In fact, unless I missed it, the movie never tells us why Sandra is friends with Jenny in the first place.

As we learn, Jenny and Connor grew up together, but they split up about 10 years prior to the film’s events. So how does Sandra even meet Jenny, much less become close friends with her? It makes absolutely no sense.

Except in the contrived world of the romantic comedy, where Jenny and Sandra must be friends so Jenny can reconnect with lost love Connor. It’s a feeble device that seems pretty useless. Surely the writers could’ve found a more logical way to connect all the parties.

But there’s not a lot of logic here, as even for a comedic fantasy, Ghosts doesn’t bother to ground itself. At least the cast adds some spark to the proceedings. McConaughey seems a little more invested than usual – heck, he doesn’t even get shirtless until the flick’s midway point! – and Garner brings some depth to her underwritten role. Douglas slums as Uncle Wayne, but he plays the part as a combination of Jack Nicholson and Robert Evans, so he brings a playful touch to the flick.

All of that combines to make Ghosts a perfectly watchable romantic comedy, and it goes by painlessly. To be honest, that’s more than I expected from it, and it’s more than we usually get from the average McConaughey vehicle. Don’t expect anything inventive or memorable, though.


The DVD Grades: Picture C-/ Audio C/ Bonus D-

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past appears in both an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 and in a fullscreen version on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the widescreen image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Only the letterboxed picture was reviewed for this article. Expect pretty lackluster visuals here.

Sharpness was adequate at best. The film used a lot of close-ups, and those exhibited reasonable definition. However, wider shots came across as somewhat soft, and the image suffered from some edge enhancement and mosquito noise; those added messiness much of the time. Mild instances of jagged edges and shimmering occurred, but at least the flick lacked print defects. It was pretty grainy at times but it didn’t suffer from specks, marks or other issues.

Colors tended to be dense. The movie went with a rather heavy golden tint, and the hues looked too thick much of the time. The colors weren’t bad, but they failed to display much vivacity. Blacks were too dense, and shadows tended to be muddy. This wasn’t an awful presentation, but it was definitely subpar.

As for the film’s Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, it provided a decidedly low-key affair. Music exhibited nice stereo presence, but the rest of the mix offered little action. This was a film that featured general ambience and little more, which was a bit of a disappointment. With the supernatural aspects of the tale, I’d think we’d find something more dynamic. However, the track remained restrained and didn’t do much more than offer light environmental support.

Audio quality was fine. Speech came across as accurate and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music sounded good, as the score and songs boasted nice warmth and range. I suppose the effects were fine, though they were so subdued that they rarely demonstrated any power. A couple of minor “time travel” elements had some oomph, but they were rare. This was an average track at best.

A few ads open the DVD. We get clips for Blu-ray Discs, My Sister’s Keeper, Four Christmases, 17 Again and Where the Wild Things Are. And that’s it in terms of “extras”, as nothing else appears here – not even the trailer for Ghosts itself.

In the category of “chick flicks”, you can do worse than Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. However, you could also do better. The film features a good cast and a few amusing moments, but usually it feels too predictable and uninspired to become a winning product. The DVD features iffy visuals, mediocre audio and no extras. If you’re desperate for a date night rental, this’ll do, but otherwise I’d advise you to skip it.

Viewer Film Ratings: 2.4 Stars Number of Votes: 5
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