BuzzSugar

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Formulaic and Forgettable

BuzzSugar — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:30:25 -0700

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past might as well be titled Wedding Planner's Failure to Lose a Guy in Fools Gold of Girlfriends Past, because it's nothing we haven't seen before from Matthew McConaughey.

The actor is a global star with actual talent and loads of charm (he's fun in Dazed and Confused and dreamily charismatic in A Time to Kill). Yet, for some reason, he has spent the past decade or so skating by in major-studio films that all pretty much resemble each other. Typically, the only thing that varies from one reductive and formulaic McConaughey rom-com to another is his leading lady. Every so often, another actress steps in for stalwart Kate Hudson to portray the generic straight woman to his man-child cad.

It's been disappointing to see a guy who possesses the very elusive "it" factor squander it, but now he's actually getting on my nerves. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past indicates that whatever it was that made his smarmy characters a little lovable is now completely tapped out. To see what I mean, read more.

McConaughey seems so icky and lecherous in this movie that you forget how good looking he is. Even his Texas accent, once so adorable to me, can't save him . . . because his character is supposed to be from the East Coast! That's just lazy. But maybe this will be a wake-up call that the time has come for McConaughey to shake it up a bit and do something unexpected (that doesn't involve surfers). Or not.

Anyway, the movie's concept has some potential: I kind of like the idea of using supernatural intervention, a la Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, to reform a toxic bachelor. In fact, with a different script, this could have resulted in a witty romp, especially if it had a charming, Clooney-esque type at its center. Instead, we meet Connor Mead, a high-flying fashion photographer who in the span of about 15 minutes breaks up with three women simultaneously via video chat and sexually humiliates a character played by Christina Milian, who naturally digs that kind of thing and proceeds to hop onto his lap in her underwear. Romantic, huh?

The only evidence that Connor has a heart is his affection and commitment to his brother, whose wedding he attends despite his distaste for marriage. Once there, he wreaks havoc in a most unfunny way and is downright mean teasing his ex-girlfriend - I mean, one true love - Jenny, played by Jennifer Garner (who looks both adorable and embarrassed to be in this movie). Eventually, Connor gets a visit from the best part of this movie: his sexist and dead Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas). Yes, Uncle Wayne has come to warn Connor that being a d-bag and not finding love results in an empty funeral. Douglas is a treat to have on screen and could teach McConaughey some things about how to play a slimy misogynist with verve.

Garner's Jenny is good with the psychoanalyzing one-liners, and the actress has good timing. Jenny's supposed to be the kind of sharp, down-to-earth, quick-witted woman who's happy to call Connor and Uncle Wayne on their crap. In another, much-better movie, it would feel good watching this lady level the spray-tanned himbos of the world with cutting rhetoric. However, this time around, I kept thinking, "Lady, don't waste your brain power on this jerk." By the end, when their inevitable kiss comes, all I could think was, "Lady, don't waste your kisses and heart and future and life on this jerk!"

McConaughey succeeds at making his character deplorable but fails at infusing his performance with anything redeeming or sympathetic. If he doesn't change, he undermines the movie's entire premise - predictable as it may be - which asks: can this d-bag change and get the girl? And that echoes another question: can McConaughey ever recapture what once made him so special? Sadly, I think the answer to both at this point is: who cares?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

House Rundown: Episode Three, "Adverse Events"

BuzzSugar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:30:47 -0700

This week's episode of House hit the trifecta of major show themes: lying, spying, and drugs. It also made me laugh out loud for the better part of an hour, and now I'm pretty sure "Adverse Effects" is my favorite House episode of the season. Even Lucas Douglas, PI, is growing on me, which is a huge surprise. Did anyone else love this episode? Or do you all think I'm crazy? To talk about it, just read more.

Often, when House tries to do episodes where the patients' and the doctors' lives intertwine, it can end up feeling heavy-handed, like Grey's Anatomy at its worst. I liked how "Adverse Effects" handles things, though, mostly because the events tie so closely into the show's themes: Do you feel better knowing the truth? Is there such a thing as "the truth" to know? Are the only good doctors miserable?

But here's what I really loved about "Adverse Effects": It's funny. I mean, the Kutner/Taub/Thirteen exchange about Kutner's crawling is priceless ("I didn't do it to get the babes." "No, that would cheapen the purity of your achievement.") - and seriously, Kutner's in the Guinness Book for crawling? Kutner and Taub also have a snappy bit about Taub's wife hypothetically "doing the doorman" (Taub: "We don't have a doorman"), we see House as a cheerleader, and Chase punctuates the removal of a nasty medical marvel with the line "And that is why I won't let Cameron get a cat." I laughed harder at this episode than I have at any comedy I've watched this week.

The humor helped take the edge off what could have been a heavy episode, with House digging into everyone's personal lives and forcing people (well, forcing Taub) to deal with truths they otherwise would have kept hidden - a nice parallel with the patient, who literally nearly killed himself trying to keep secrets from his girlfriend. This episode has some bits that really speak to what House is all about - Lucas and House's exchange about the truth ("There is only one truth." "Maybe true for you.") and House's assertion that miserable people save more lives, to name just two. Some other thoughts:

Aw, Cuddy and Lucas, sitting in a - um, diner - and not quite k-i-s-s-i-n-g but not too far from it, either. Is Cuddy just attracted to people who drive her crazy, manipulate her, and go through her personal belongings?
So much was made about Taub's wife's secret bank account that I was expecting a twist. Instead, we got one car and zero lies on the wife's part. I think the storyline would have had more zip if I hadn't nearly forgotten that Taub had an unconfessed affair.
Speaking of which, I bet that reference to the fictional "Jefferson Mutual" bank was funnier a few months ago.
Breckin Meyer looks old.
House played lacrosse and was a cheerleader? I know I'm supposed to be most shocked at the cheerleader revelation, but I didn't figure lacrosse would be his sport, either.
Yet another episode with only the briefest glimpse of Chase and no Cameron. I hope they're enjoying what must amount to a paid vacation.
I always love the irony of House saying things like "People hate people who mess with other people."

So: How are you feeling about Lucas now? Wasn't the jam session at the end kind of awesome? And can you picture House doing spirit fingers and basket tosses?

Photos courtesy of Fox

Buzz News Roundup, 8/13

BuzzSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:31:17 -0700

The soundtrack to the movie Mamma Mia! is now No. 1 on the Billboard 200. - Billboard
George Clooney has bought the rights to Jonathan Mahler's legal thriller The Challenge. - Variety
Seth Green and Breckin Meyer are in talks to guest-star on Heroes. - Entertainment Weekly
ABC is developing a TV version of The Witches of Eastwick. - TV Guide
Orlando Bloom will star in a movie about life in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege. - Reuters
J.J. Abrams will produce a disaster film about an earthquake. - ComingSoon
NBC is developing a half-hour comedy about 20-something female tycoons, called Mogulettes. - Variety
Jeremy Sumpter, who played the lead role in 2003's Peter Pan, has been cast as the new quarterback challenger on Friday Night Lights. - Entertainment Weekly

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