Film Reviews; I love you man/ghost of girlfriends past

I LOVE YOU MAN;

Rom-com? No this is more a brom-com, a look into an increasing trend that has become apparent of the years – a ‘bromance.’ A bromance can be described as a close bond/platonic love between male friends, who do many things, if not everything together – talk on the phone, go to lunch/dinner/drinks etc, hang out on a regular basis, and maintain that close friendship and bond that is normally associated with females.
While the movie is amusing and likeable, it is nothing stand out or spectacular. The storyline and ending are predictable and only made worthwhile due to the acting performances of Paul Rudd (Clueless, Knocked Up) and the ever hilarious and likeable Jason Segal (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, How I met Your Mother.)

The character of Peter Klaven is brought to life exceptionally well by Rudd, who wins over the audience with his sweet and slightly dorky nature, creating laughs at his humorous attempts at trying to maintain a cool composure, which only lands him in awkward situations. Peter’s journey begins after his engagement to Zooey (Rashida Jones.) While Zooey has her close group of girlfriends, as Peter family explains, Peter himself has always been a ‘girlfriend’ guy, and never maintained a close bond with another male. Thus begins Peter’s search to find a best man for his impending wedding. After many failed attempts at striking up a male friendship, an explosion of vomit and a gay kiss, Peter meets Sydney Fife (Segal) at an open house. Sydney is a complete opposite to the conservative Peter, but through some mutual common loves, the men strike up a close friendship, one filled with awkward moments, laughs, controversy and the inevitable break up and make up.

While predictable, I Love You Man, is worth seeing, due to the on screen chemistry of Rudd and Segal, who ultimately bring the movie to life. The mixture of Rudd’s ability to create cringe-worthy comedy teamed with Segal’s affable and easygoing sense of humour and nature makes it a worthwhile viewing experience.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past;
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is meant to be a modern and comic interpretation of Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ replacing Scrooge the miser, as a sex addicted sleaze ball played all too well by Matthew McConaughey. Modern – yes. Comic? Not so much. Somewhere along the line, the movie misses the mark, and is just not all that worthwhile seeing. Connor (McConaughey) is a cliched character, and the sort of character that McConaughey himself plays only too often. Sleazy, handsome (personally something I don’t agree with but hey) and with the ability to lure women into his bed all too easily.

Instead of Christmas, the movie is focused around the wedding of Connor’s younger brother, the only family he has left in the world. Through a series of events ultimately caused by Connor, the wedding is called off. Connor himself goes on a journey, back to the past, through to the present and is propelled into the future, where he learns the error of his ways, and realises the only girl he has ever truly loved is his childhood sweetheart (played by Jennifer Garner.) To her credit, Garner does all she can with the role, but her acting talents are beyond mediocre movies like this. McConaughey himself plays Connor convincingly but that doesn’t say much about his acting talents – the role is hardly a big stretch for him.

The movie starts off bad and continues to get worse – when you reach the bit of where Connor’s Uncle Wayne (cameo role from Michael Douglas) pulls out an umbrella and explains the Connor that the rain pouring down is all the female tears that have been shed for him over the years, only to be followed by a hail of tissues used to wipe away those tears, to then be succeeded by the avalanche of condoms he has used...well you know at that point the movie isn’t going to get much better.

On paper – the actors list is all too good. On screen? Not so much. Save it for DVD on a rainy day, when you don’t have anything better to do, and all the good movies have already been hired out.