Ghosts of Girlfriends Past 2009

Critics score:
27 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: It's a tired premise with some even weaker gags. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: A junky-looking romantic comedy that's neither remotely romantic nor passably comic. Read more

Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader: Jennifer Garner is sweet and radiant as McConaughey's childhood friend and former lover; Lacey Chabert steals scenes as the woman marrying McConaughey's brother; and Robert Forster and Anne Archer are good as her parents. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: A bizarre conflation of chick flick and A Christmas Carol. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past doesn't do Dickens any favors, but in a year that brought us Bride Wars, it'll do. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Chief among the disappointments of the new romantic comedy Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past is that McConaughey plays an upscale version of his Dazed And Confused character, yet that creepy edge has been filed off again. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Quite honestly, you have much better things to do with your time. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Ghosts is better-than-average McConaughey swill, but not by much -- that's its pleasure and its curse. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: You can count the jokes that work on one hand; the rest is pratfalls and predictability. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Despite my McConaughey resistance I got more guilty chuckles from Ghosts of Girlfriends Past than Failure to Launch or Four Christmases. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Just in case you can't get enough of the romantic comedy oeuvre of Matthew McConaughey, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is here to remind you that, yes, some films of his are even worse than Failure to Launch, Surfer Dude, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Please, ladies, don't go see this movie. (Chances are most men would rather put out their eyes than go see a film with such a title.) Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie is cheesy, tacky, and gimmicky. But as directed by Mark Waters, it's also prankish and inventive enough to be kind of fun. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Like Connor with his women, the film picks up ideas and then drops them. At one point, Connor reflects on Wayne: 'I never figured out why he called me Dutch.' Weirdly, neither do we. Read more

New York Daily News: A cheerless rip-off of A Christmas Carol. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: I'm almost embarrassed to admit I found Ghosts of Girlfriends Past the season's first genuine guilty pleasure. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: As a romcom, it's average, but as a Matthew McConaughey romcom, it's above average. If you're a low-expectations moviegoer, this one might surprise you. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The Dickens elements elevate Ghosts of Girlfriends Past above the level of pure formula; unfortunately, the presence of McConaughey in full sleaze mode makes it difficult to like this film's Scrooge, even after his redemption occurs. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The potential is here for a comedy that could have been hilarious. But the screenplay spaces out some undeniably funny lines in too much plot business, and Matthew McConaughey, while admirably villainous as a lecher, is not convincing as a charmer. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past never comes as close as spitting distance to a laugh. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Every audience member with an intellect bigger than a squid's knows at all times where Ghosts is heading. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Douglas, radiating an arid narcissism, does look as if he was recently exhumed. Whether this is a deliberate makeup choice or unfortunate lighting is hard to guess. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Despite inducing some guilty grins, McConaughey's character is unforgivably shallow. The likable Garner has little to do except wait for his inevitable breakthrough. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Only two characters might qualify as sympathetic. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: You've got to love a movie that so eagerly assassinates its leading man's cuddly image, and which also manages to blow a wicked kiss to Fatal Attraction. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: There's precious little to laugh at - not the lead's one-dimensional swagger, Michael Douglas's Rat Pack-meets-Robert Evans jive talk or an anti-misogyny parable with the gall to make every female a neurotic shrew or a sex-starved harpy. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The formulaic story evaporates faster than cotton candy, and it's often as cloyingly sweet and tacky. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: A second-rate sex farce...mostly clunky and vaguely unsavory. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: Above all, it will make you long for a day when studio movies about relationships feel like they are by and for adults who have actually been in one. Read more