Movie Review: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Ever wonder what A Christmas Carol may be like if it wasn’t taking place at Christmas? Well probably not but here is one answer. Released in 2009 this romantic comedy takes the Charles Dickens tale and not only modernizes it, but twists it into a non-Christmas story. I know the critics were not a fan, but it still did not stop this movie from making a lot of money. Spoiler alert as always. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Photographer Connor Mead (Matthew McConaughey, with Devin Brochu and Logan Miller as the younger versions) not only takes great pictures, but is a notorious womanizer; let me put it this way while hooking up with the woman he was doing a magazine spread for he dumped three other woman via Skype at the same time. He travels up to his childhood home to attend the wedding of his brother Paul (Breckin Meyer) to longtime girlfriend Sandra (Lacey Chabert), despite not really believing in love. Connor as well reunites with childhood friend Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner with Kasey Russell and Christa B. Allen as the younger versions), the only woman to ever capture his heart (and clearly still has strong feelings for). Connor makes a drunken speech about love being a myth (and worrying an already freaking out Sandra) and when he goes to the bathroom runs into the ghost of the man who taught him his womanizing ways: his uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas). Telling Connor he is going to die just like him (alone) Wayne tells Connor he will be visited by three ghosts tonight in order to change his ways. Connor at first dismisses it, until he meets the first ghost: the Ghosts of Girlfriends past in the form of Allison Vandermeersh (Emma Stone) who happens to be the first woman Connor slept with in high school who takes him back through his past relationships (which took a LONG time) including him falling for Jenny and then leaving her out of fear of breaking his heart. The Ghosts of Girlfriends Present takes form in Connor’s assistant, and the only constant female figure in his life, Melanie (Noureen DeWulf) showing what people actually think of Connor, including Jenny who is clearly still in love with him but might move on in another man Brad (Daniel Sunjata) much to Connor’s chagrin. When Connor might have screwed up things for his brother he meets the Ghost of Girlfriends Future (Olga Maliouk) which shows a future where Jenny is marring Brad and Connor becomes upset. I know I probably gave a lot away, but considering the material probably not hard to figure out.

A really nice movie perfect for wither a girls night or in need of a little romance. Matthew McConaughey is fantastic as Connor, a womanizer but actually has a heart underneath everything. Jennifer Garner is so good as Jenny, the only woman Connor seems to have loved. Their chemistry is off the charts adorable, I kinda wish these two did more movies together. I liked the rest of the cast, but I have to give a special shout out to Michael Douglas as Uncle Wayne; he was so good. While I would not call Ghost of Girlfriends Past a must see, it is still a very cute movie and if you can find it on TV I would at least DVR it for a later time. Hey you can even watch it on Christmas just to stay true to the original material.

Movie Review: Mean Girls

One of the first PG-13 movies I watched in theaters, I went with some of my girlfriends and my dad (who was “thrilled” to take us). However I do not think anyone was prepared for just how big this 2004 movie was going to become, something tells me this will be just as big when I am very old. In case you haven’t seen it, spoiler alert. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) moves from Africa to the United States, specifically Evanston, Illinois. Cady attends high school for the first time and soon learns about cliques from two outcasts, Janis Ian (Lizzy Caplan) who is Goth and Damian Leigh (Daniel Franzese) who is gay. They tell Cady about to avoid the most popular group at school” The Plastics, a trio of girls who are as popular as they are mean. Karen Smith (Amanda Seyfried) the sweet but stupid member, Gretchen Wieners (Lacey Chabert) the spoiled member who just wants acceptance, and finally the leader and what Janis calls evil human form, Regina George (Rachel McAdams). The Plastics invite Cady into their clique which makes Cady popular, although they discourage her from joining the math team despite her exceptional skills according to her teacher Ms. Norby (Tina Fey who also wrote the screenplay). Janis wants to use Cady to gain revenge on Regina for their horrible past, but Cady refuses to go along with the plan at first. Cady falls madly in love with fellow classmate Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) who happens to be Regina’s ex-boyfriend. When Regina, knowing that Cady is interested, steals Aaron back Cady goes all in on Janis’s plan to destroy Regina by having Cady take over The Plastics, but inadvertently along the way Cady turns out to be much worse than Regina. About as far as I can go without giving away the rest of the movie.

To say that this movie has become a pop culture phenomenon would be an understatement. Everything from the writing to the acting could not have been done better. While Lindsay Lohan was already well known before this movie Mean Girls helped break her out of the Disney mold. McAdams and Seyfried’s careers as well have gone sky high because of this movie. Tina Fey has had success before and after this movie, but this for me is her best film work, not just as an actress but as a writer (notice the key word being film she is still fantastic in television) Other actors such as Bennett, Franzese, Chabert and Caplan haven’t had as much success after Mean Girls, but they have said they are thankful for the movie. The film had a spin off called Mean Girls 2, but it is not really worth watching having only one member from the original film and basically is a poor copy. There is a stage musical coming soon to Broadway with Tina Fey doing the script, so you know it is gonna be good. There have been talks about the official sequel, but until I see an actual trailer I do not believe it. Mean Girls continues to have a huge impact in film and I do not see it going away anytime soon.