Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past

Rating:

* *

Verdict:

Scrooge is replaced by a serial womaniser in this rehash of A Christmas Carol.

Charles Dickens can consider himself lucky he's not here to see this dreadful romantic comedy, inspired by his novella

A Christmas Carol

. Matthew McConaughey is no stranger to average romantic comedies but his character in this film, womanising celebrity photographer Connor Mead, is one of his worst yet.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

replaces Dickens' Christmas setting with a wedding, and money with sex. Connor, our Scrooge, has few friends but manages plenty of casual sex. He's the kind of guy who thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple girlfriends all at once, on a conference call, and believes marriage is a "corrupt and hurtful institution".

This makes him somewhat of a liability at the wedding weekend of his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer), where he hits on the mother of the bride, destroys the wedding cake, sends the bride into panic attacks and generally acts like a drunk, arrogant idiot.

That is, until he is visited by the ghost of his dead Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas), the ultimate bachelor who tells Connor that aspiring to follow in his playboy footsteps isn't the best idea. To convince Connor to change, and that his true love is his childhood friend and one time girlfriend Jenny (Garner), Uncle Wayne claims his protege will be visited by three ghosts representing jilted girlfriends from the past, present and future.

It's hard to tell whether McConaughey's look of disbelief at Douglas' speech is a reaction to seeing his dead uncle, or whether it is at that moment he realises he's starring in a doozy of a film. Regardless, McConaughey never quite sells this premise, and never truly convinces us that he's capable of changing his ways. Not that we'd care anyway.

No one expects rom-coms to be unpredictable or terribly original, but a little charm, some true romance and ideally, gratuitous shots of McConaughey's sixpack wouldn't have gone astray. Regrettably

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

comes up empty on each count.

Francesca Rudkin

Cast:

Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Lacey Chabert, Michael Douglas

Director:

Mark Waters

Running time:

100 mins

Rating:

M (Sexual References)