While watching “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” I kept trying to put a finger on just what it was about Matthew McConaughey that wasn’t sitting well with me.
I admit, I love Matthew in almost every movie he’s cast, even the bad ones. Then Jennifer Garner’s character, Jenny Perotti, finally nailed it for me when she said: “I didn’t see your handsome, awful self. Today, you’re the guy I used to know.”

In “Ghosts,” all the standard McConaughey elements are there — confidence (now referred to as swagger), charm, good looks, nice physique, dripping accent — and in most of his rom-com roles, you forgive him long before the predictable OK-so-I-realize-I-do-love-you ending. But, Connor Mead (McConaughey’s character) was way more of an egotistical jerk than usual, and McConaughey played it all too well. I almost feel like this is who he might be in real life — the noncommittal charmer who laughs at love.

“Ghosts” is a story about this hot, self-absorbed women’s lingerie photographer who gets play at every turn. Men think he’s a god. Women throw themselves at him. But it’s the classic story: love ’em, leave ’em, don’t give ’em a second thought.

Connor is so wrapped up in himself, not to mention the legs of a woman, that he almost forgets his brother Paul’s (Breckin Meyer) wedding. It’s not until he
arrives at the house of his late Uncle Wayne’s (played spot-on by Michael Douglas), where the wedding is held, that we start to see another dimension to
his character. We learn why he is the way he is.

It takes Jenny (Garner) to get us there. Garner is the real talent in this movie, even though she is constantly overshadowed by McConaughey’s role. She’s his childhood sweetheart, the girl he should’ve kissed first, the one he should’ve dated and married, the yin to his yang. Instead, he went a different route. And she stood by — definitely not something her “Alias” character would’ve done.

As the movie plays out, it’s all about Connor. He does his best to sabotage the wedding and is visited by three ghosts (like Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol”) who show him the error of his womanizing ways. It is during these visits where we are finally offered a real glimpse of his decades-long on/off relationship with Jenny.

It’s not until the “Time After Time” montage, however, seemingly thrown in by director Mark Waters (“Mean Girls”), that we finally sense the chemistry between the two. It’s thanks to Cyndi Lauper that I finally teared up and felt a connection. (Is the montage what we need to spark a flame these days?)
Connor — and McConaughey —  reach redemption in the end. Finally, “the guy I used to know” shows up, although it takes much longer than usual. I was pretty over him at that point, honestly. I think Garner might agree. I felt even she was rolling her eyes.