I just watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past last night and I’m alright about it.

I just watched Ghosts of Girlfriends Past last night and I’m alright about it.

It’s not a very good movie. Big surprise there. But it’s really some of the better work star Matthew McConaughey has done in a long while. That’s saying a lot and mainly because I haven’t seen anything he’s done since How to lose a guy in 10 days. Jesus, what am I admitting here? O.k., I did see Tropic Thunder but he was only in it as a bit part and I think that was because Owen Wilson dropped out after trying to kill himself.

I guess the point is that McConaughey used to be a charming go-to guy in a free spirited comedy (hence why I think I saw How to lose a guy) but after churning out shit-fest after shit-fest (Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold) even the really dumb ticket buying public started to tune out. My guess is most people who sat through Fool’s Gold might have actually enjoyed Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. It sucks, but it couldn’t have been any worse than Failure to Launch right?

The story is an absurd re-telling of the Christmas Carol in which McConaughey’s character, an unrepentant lady killer (and kind of a sociopath) is visited by girlfriends past, present and future. You know how it ends if you’ve experienced a Christmas and you’re over the age of 10. McConaughey learns a valuable lesson and rekindles a fairly implausible relationship with Jennifer Garner.

Here’s some big issues with this movie aside from it being unoriginal and kind of crappy: Who in the hell was Jennifer Garner’s character? She was a friend of the family but it was never explained who she was and why she was at the brother’s wedding. Also, McConaughey drinks at least seven double shots of whiskey in the time it takes him to deliver a completely out of character diatribe about love. It takes him five minutes and seems to only be mildly buzzed. Then he drinks some more. I don’t care who you are, if you drink that much in that short amount of time, the hilarious hijinks of this movie would be put on hold while the main character waited out his coma.

Anyway, I watched this in Blu-Ray and McConaughey is really starting to look sunblasted. He’s still a good looking guy but I’m starting to find it hard to believe he’s so desirable when he looks like he could be panhandling for change on any intersection in America. I’ve already written way too much about Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, but maybe if I can help one person not make the same mistake, it was worth it.