Matthew McConaughey, flashing choppers so blindingly white that he could light his own premiere, plays Connor Mead, one of those rom-com roués whose itchy libidos hide the usual sensitive soul. He’s a cad — he breaks up with three women simultaneously during a video conference — but, really, he’s just heartbroken and waiting for the right woman to help him heal. That would be Jenny Perotti, a childhood friend played by an uncharacteristically hesitant Jennifer Garner, whose performance suggests that she knows that she’s strictly backup. Less a co-star than a place holder (you can almost see the words “enter generic female lead” in Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s screenplay), she delivers her indulgent smiles so wanly that her requisite thaw feels more like capitulation than like love.
The director Mark Waters, who typically does better by his actresses, proves of no help to Ms. Garner or anyone else. (Given his smoother work on “Freaky Friday” and “Mean Girls,” it’s hard not to wonder if this production itself were haunted.) Whether by contract or default, “Girlfriends” is strictly a one-man show, a vehicle for Mr. McConaughey’s diminishing returns. While there’s still a little charm under that permatan, it’s getting tougher for him to sell the goods on only a smile. He might still be capable of delivering an actual performance again, giving up something other than mannerisms (sauntering walk, crinkling eyes, flashing grin), but he needs a director who can help him get going. Age isn’t easy, even for golden boys.
The movie makes much the same point with Uncle Wayne, Connor’s lifelong bad influence. Played by an insistently watchable Michael Douglas, Uncle Wayne is a cautionary tale incarnate: an old-school playboy wrapped in a leathery casing who appears to have been at least partly based on the Hollywood producer Robert Evans. Now mostly famous for being famous and, to an extent, for his autobiography, “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” Mr. Evans produced classics like “Chinatown” once upon a time. Although Mr. Douglas’s face is often obscured with tinted, oversize glasses and a luxurious wave of hair, almost as if he were trying to duck the camera, he brings this ghost to freakish life. The lizard king no longer rocks, but he certainly does slither.
GHOST OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST
Opens on Friday nationwide.
Directed by Mark Waters; written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore; director of photography, Daryn Okada; edited by Bruce Green; music by Rolfe Kent; production designer, Cary White; produced by Jon Shestack and Brad Epstein; released by Warner Brothers Pictures. Running time: 1 hour 41 minutes.
WITH: Matthew McConaughey (Connor Mead), Jennifer Garner (Jenny Perotti), Breckin Meyer (Paul), Lacey Chabert (Sandra), Robert Forster (Sergeant Volkom), Anne Archer (Vonda Volkom), Emma Stone (Allison Vandermeersh) and Michael Douglas (Uncle Wayne).
