Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
New Line Cinema | Release Date: May 1, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
34
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
11
Negative:
11
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea Gronvall
Writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore steal from the best, gleefully cribbing from "A Christmas Carol" to fashion a screenplay with heart and sharp one-liners. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The movie is cheesy, tacky, and gimmicky. But as directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls), it's also prankish and inventive enough to be kind of fun. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
In terms of character, McConaughey is the toxin and Garner the antitoxin. It's not exactly chemistry, but as pharmacology it's effective. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Despite my McConaughey resistance I got more guilty chuckles from Ghosts of Girlfriends Past than "Failure to Launch" or "Four Christmases." Read full review
63
New York PostLou Lumenick
The season's first genuine guilty pleasure. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Lacks the kind of forceful, attention-grabbing chemistry that elevates a movie in this genre from a passable diversion to a lasting source of entertainment. Read full review
63
Charlotte ObserverRoger Moore
Ghosts finishes well, and the familiar McConaughey heel-grows-a-heart story arc is engaging. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
An amusingly sentimental whiff of a romantic comedy. Read full review
60
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
Likely to exceed expectations. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Ghosts is better-than-average McConaughey swill, but not by much - that's its pleasure and its curse. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Ghosts can't make up its mind whether it wants to be a racy raunchfest or a sentimental celebration of soul mates. So it ends up being a sappy, sleazy hybrid. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The dialogue is almost primitive at times, almost every female character is an idiot and McConaughey grossly overplays the bachelor-sleazeball antics at the beginning. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Has some laughs - more than a few thanks to Michael Douglas as a dead swinger (the movie's Jacob Marley) - and some moments of tenderness, too. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazinePerry Seibert
It's the movie equivalent of fast food -- nobody needs this to be good, just adequate. And Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is nothing if not thoroughly adequate. Read full review
50
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Mostly clunky and vaguely unsavory. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It's not particularly funny to hear women described and valued exclusively in terms of their function as disposable sexual partners. A lot of Connor's dialogue is just plain sadistic and qualifies him as that part of an ass it shares with a doughnut. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
At least Douglas has a good time bringing the smarminess that McConaughey so studiously avoids. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
The movie clumps through one witless if not wince-evoking sequence after another without the relief of laughter. Read full review
33
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
I guarantee you, if Charles Dickens were alive today, he might well be writing movies but he sure as shootin' wouldn't have written "Ghosts." Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Ghosts indeed: This romantic comedy by name alone attempts to make funny – not to mention culturally relevant – the kind of swinging-dick misogyny that went out of fashion years ago. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Never comes as close as spitting distance to a laugh. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Isn't just ordinarily lame, it easily exceeds any normal requirements for witless sleaze. Read full review
25
PremiereStaff (Not credited)
We don't needlessly hate on the romantic comedies, but this one takes the corniness and predictability of the genre to a whole new level. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
A bizarre conflation of chick flick and "A Christmas Carol." Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsStaff (Not credited)
Douglas is the only one who looks like he's actually having fun with the dim-witted script. Read full review
10
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
A junky-looking romantic comedy that’s neither remotely romantic nor passably comic. Read full review
10
Washington PostJan Stuart
The relentless vulgarities in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past would be almost tolerable if they were amusing, but Mark Waters's direction is so tentative that the film's single laugh happens more than an hour in. Read full review
0
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past displays nary a wisp of life, let alone an afterlife. Read full review
0
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
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 full review
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