I believe I will make this my recommendations blog addition.  I’m out of updates and not feeling especially rant-motivated this morning and there is most definitely a short-list of wonders that have amused me of late.

First up, before I even talk music or movies, have you seen this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr9_5uZn6ds  Ricky Gervais has to be one of my most favourite people of all time and if you haven’t spent a good amount of time with the British Office then please do.  Awkward has never been so delightful.

The second thing I’m going to recommend is the short, but sweet and perfectly quaint Pushing Daisies series.  The banter is witty, the look of it is beautiful and the story is full of whimsy.  It actually makes a zombie story read  like a fairytale.  Bravo.

So, in my quest to find something a little more pop-esque and uplifting on the music side of things, I discovered Anya Marina (Slow & Steady Seduction: Phase II.)  Now, I’m not usually one for chick music (and I mean that with the greatest respect to chicks and chick musicians everywhere) but there’s something about this woman’s vibe I really dig.  Sometimes cute and child-like, sometimes impossibly sexy…it’s just a fun album to have on while, oh say, curled up on your wee couch with your mac on a rainy Thursday morning. http://www.myspace.com/anyamarina

And, to keep with an earlier thread, I’m going to suggest that if you haven’t seen Zombieland yet, do.  I know, I know, looks kinda stupid, but it’s the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long time.  I’m also wondering if anyone’s read Dave Eggers’ Wild Things?  I’m such a fan of his writing and it was such a beautiful film…I’m guessing the book’s gotta be the touching masterpiece I’m imagining, but I haven’t picked it up yet.

Final and most delicious recommendation: if you’re in the GTA and are hittin’ up Leslieville for brunch, it is worth the wait in line to go to Lady Marmalade.  It’s one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had (avocado, brie & bacon eggs benny…am I right?) and the coffee delicious, the atmosphere warm.

Voila, some of my most favourite things (well, this morning anyways.)

Comedy Central versündigt sich derzeit am Publikum, denn dort versendet man die Serie “Extras” in der Nacht von Sonntag auf Montag um 2.00 Uhr. Dafür gibt es um 20.15 Uhr zum abertausendsten Male “South Park”. “Extras” ist eine Serie aus der Feder, unter der Regie und unter Mitwirkung von Ricky Gervais. Gervais ist auf dem Gebiet der televisionären Hochkomik eine einsame Größe. Er schuf zuvor “The Office”, das unmittelbare Vorbild für unseren “Stromberg”, und spielte dort auch selbst die Hauptrolle. Kennt man das Original, verspürt man gelegentlich ein schmerzhaftes Ziehen in den Zähnen, wenn Christoph Maria Herbst in die Vollen geht.

2005 ließ Gervais “Extras” folgen, eine Tragikomödie aus dem Milieu der Kleindarsteller. In der momentan bei Comedy Central gezeigten letzten Staffel ist Gervais’ Charakter Andy Millman nach langen Jahren der Notdurft mit einer flachen und komplett unwitzigen Sitcom endlich erfolgreich und mit ihm die befreundete Kollegin Maggie Jacobs (Ashley Jensen). Nun kämpft Millman – da dürfte einiges biografisch sein – mit den Folgen des Ruhms und ringt auch mal um künstlerische Anerkennung, so wenn er unter der Regie Sir Ian Kellens in einem Theaterstück mitwirkt.

Der Clou der Reihe sind die Gastauftritte hochmögender Zelebritäten, die meist mit großem Spaß das eigene Image verulken. In den noch ausstehenden beiden Episoden tummeln sich unter anderem Robert De Niro, Talkmaster Jonathan Ross, Clive Owen, George Michael, der TV-Koch Gordon Ramsay (mit seiner 2004 installierten Reihe “Kitchen Nightmares” Vorbild diverser Restauranttester). Auch Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe, David Bowie, Ben Stiller, Samuel L. Jackson waren sich nicht zu schade, für Gervais vor die Kamera zu treten.

Was neben seiner großartigen Leistung für Gervais einnimmt: Er ist ein Mann mit Haltung. Wofern man einschlägigen Berichten glauben darf, lehnte er nichtsnutzige Nebenrollen in Hollywood-Blockbustern ebenso ab wie hoch dotierte Werbeangebote. Dafür lieferte er einen beeindruckenden Gastauftritt in der Serie “Alias” (derzeit in der Wiederholung samstags bei Das Vierte) und schenkt uns demnächst die Kinokomödie “Cemetery Junction”.

Und wo wir schon bei versenkten Programmgemmen sind: Die US-Serie “Arrested Development” (Comedy Central, samstags nachts gegen 1.00 Uhr) erzählte von 2003 bis 2006 schon von den Folgen der Wirtschaftskrise, ehe die überhaupt begonnen hatte. Grund genug, einen Spielfilm folgen zu lassen, der 2011 in die Kinos kommen soll.

Something that has mystified me for a while now is the rise and rise of Ricky Gervais. Ok, The Office was a good show, and I don’t mind that it got the accolades it did… But how has that success lead to Ricky Gervais becoming a Hollywood leading man?? Radio, yes. Stand-up, yes. Awards hosting, I suppose so. But romantic lead?? No no no.

I can buy Simon Pegg becoming a romantic lead. He has made a great transformation from TV comedy star, to Hollywood leading man. And I find his performances believable, funny and charming. But Ricky Gervais? I don’t know. I don’t think charm is something in his arsenal.

You know who I would like to see get a chance as a Hollywood leading man? (The video above might be a clue!) Dylan Moran. He is witty, hilarious, handsome, magnetic. He was brilliant as the lead in Black Books, and has played a few supporting roles in big movies, but hasn’t been given the lead role he deserves.

The thing about Dylan Moran is, there is just something about him. Even though his persona is that of a wine swilling, smoking, depressing guy who moans about everything, there is still something very sexy about him. Like he’s the kind of guy you’d like hole up in a Dublin pub with, while it pours with rain outside, drink copious amounts of red wine, and bitch about the world in general. As odd as it sounds, that’s a fantasy of mine!

And I know there are a lot of women who agree with me!

So listen up film producers, and Hollywood bigwigs. Enough Gervais! More Moran.

As you were.

As if I forgot about this, it came out 3 weeks ago and I’ve only just downloaded it. Shame on me. The Gervais & Co ‘Guide To’ series has been pretty good so far, and this society special is no exception. Listen to the fat demi-French beardo, the lanky speccy one and the manc halfwit with a head like a fucking orange talk about their views on society and the role of authoritive governence in modern society. For me, Karl’s views on Rosa Parks are this episodes highlight.

This video is just a preview, you can get the full hour long version from iTunes.

Ben

Oh also! I have just found out that Ricky Gervais’ new flanimals book is pop up!

Ghost Town è un film del 2008 scritto da John Kampse e Davdi Koepp e diretto dallo stesso David Koepp.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Ricky Gervais | Greg Kinnear | David Koepp | Téa Leoni

elmo wants this tape!!

Além de ter um apresentador desde 1995 (o comediante Ricky Gervais), a próxima edição do Globo de Ouro trará mais uma novidade. Em 2010, o número de produções concorrentes em Melhor Animação será cinco, diferentemente dos anos anteriores, quando somente três produções disputavam nesta categoria. Os indicados ao Globo de Ouro serão anunciados por Philip Berk – presidente da Philip Berk, Presidente da Associação de Imprensa Estrangeira de Hollywood, que anualmente escolhe os vencedores da premiação – em 15 de dezembro. Os próprios membros da associação votaram pela expansão de números de indicados nessa categoria. De acordo com a regra, os inscritos devem ter mais de 70 minutos de duração e menos de 25% desse tempo pode ser em live action (com atores reais). Se menos de 12 animações forem qualificadas a concorrer a uma das cinco vagas nessa categoria, somente três animações serão indicadas. A 67ª edição do Globo de Ouro, apresentada por Ricky Gervais, ocorre em Los Angeles, com transmissão ao vivo para o mundo todo, em 17 de janeiro de 2010.

I made this video awhile back featuring Karl Pilkington. If you don’t know who Karl Pilkington is I suggest you go to iTunes and download all of the Ricky Gervais podcasts. You can also find Karl at his website or by a quick search on Youtube.

I hate watching award shows, but can’t get enough of Ricky Gervais. He’s why the UK version of The Office is funnier.

We knew it and we LOVE it!

For those of you who aren’t sure, Ricky Gervais is the talented and hilarious actor that is best known for playing the manager in the British version of The Office.

*gives four thumbs up* Go, Robert! We approve! (Hey, if it ain’t us, we’d rather it be a homme, you dig?)   xoxo ~Lost & Fallen

Thank you for the wicked good catch on this vid @emscharitykiss!

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah, now I remember. I was about to tell you that I was going on hiatus for two weeks, and then I did That Thing We All Do But Swear We Won’t Ever Do Again,

I forgot to press SEND.

(sigh)

Actually, more often than not, The Thing I Do That I Wish I Didn’t Do is press SEND too soon, before I’ve finished typing whatever breathtaking prose I’m trying on at the time.

So — unless I press SEND too soon, or forget to press it at all — I’m back.

Did’ja miss me?

* * *

OUR TOWN: Filmmakers Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher are set to attend tonight’s Doc Soup screenings of their family saga October Country

JONES: here next month

tonight at the Bloor Cinema … the Toronto premiere of Displacement, the multi-media dance art piece created by choreographer Robert Glumbek, visual artist Vessna Perunovich and composer Christos Hatzis, opens tonight at Fleck Dance Theatre as part of Harbourfront Centre’s NextSteps Dance Series. The show, performed by seven dancers, also features the Penderecki String Quartet … Whodunit 2009, this year much-anticipated annual Ontario College Of Art & Design fund-raiser, previews today, tomorrow and Friday before the Mystery Art by the famous and soon-to-be-famous goes on

RADCLIFFE: Greenwich Village

sale Saturday. For more info, collectors, just click here …. p.s. to Radio City Music Hall aficionados: this is the last night to see the justifiably legendary Rockettes kick up their heels at the Air Canada Centre … and the CHUM Christmas Wish, this year in partnership with CP24, yesterday launched its 43rd Christmas season for raising money and collecting toys for families in need across the Greater Toronto Area.

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Did you know that Daniel Radcliffe (aka Harry Potter) was personally tutored by the Coutts Bank when he turned 18 and learned how to best invest his earnings, currently estimated at $15-20 million? Me neither. But that could explain how the young Mr. R. acquired his new $6 million Greenwich Village townhouse, which will be his home base when

APATOW: on line today

he returns to Broadway to fill the Robert Morse/Matthew Broderick song-and-dance shoes in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying … riding high on the love-letter reviews for her new album The Fall, Norah Jones is set to guest on The Colbert Report tonight. Expect to hear and see her next month with Jian on Q and Strombo on The Hour … artist Natalka Husar opens her new show, Burden Of Innocence, tomorrow in Hamilton. Advance word on Husar’s new exhibition hints at taking her lifelong obsession with painting and with the Ukraine, her ancestral home, into new territory. For more details, click here … and new comedy zillionaire Judd Apatow is taking questions today at the Funny Or Die writers’ room at 12:30 pm pst (3:30 pm our time.) To quiz him, or to just submit your question, click here.

HOSTS WITH THE MOST:  It’s official — Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are Oscar’s newest Odd Couple. They are now set to co-host next year’s Academy

KARPLUK & MERCER: Gemini twins (photo: CP)

Awards telecast on Sunday March 7 … meanwhile, Office creator Ricky Gervais has been tagged to host the Golden Globes on Sunday Jan. 17 … and yes, I agree, Ron James did a dandy job of hosting last Saturday night’s Gemini Awards. Among the happiest winners: Rick Mercer, not just because his weekly Rick Mercer Report won Best Comedy Series, but also because he got to hang out with people he watches on TV, like Erin (Being Erica) Karpluk and Cory (Glee) Monteith — who, according to my spies, were even more excited to be hanging out with him.

Ain’t show biz grand?

TOMORROW:

Star-crossed reunion: Patti Lupone & Mandy Patinkin.

Yet more non updating, apologies.

What’ve I been up to since last updating?

Watched a couple of NFL games, firstly Dallas @ Green Bay which was just painful to watch, Dallas were shocking, Nick Folk even missed a field goal. Mental. Later that night I watched Pats @ Colts, that was slightly better, the best game of football I’ve seen in an awful long time. The Colts ended up winning 35-34 after being 17 points down, Pats tried to end the game by going for it on 4th and 2 on their own 28, they didn’t succeed, Colts rallied and got a TD with nine seconds left or so. Magical, beautiful. I love NFL sometimes and I really like watching Peyton Manning, I’d love them to go unbeaten, well, until Dallas beat them in the Superbowl.

On Monday me and Arwell discovered an amazing new quiz show, well, it started last Monday, it’s called Sell Me The Answer. I’ll explain later, I can’t be bothered at the moment, but definitely check it out. We also went for a game of b-ball, it wasn’t very fun as the ground was wet so the ball and floor were slippy. Annoying, I hope we can go again soon when the weather has been better.

We all got a cooked chicken each too, amazing. Chicken really is so good, definitely the best meat.

Just watching Meet Ricky Gervais, I forgot I had it on here, so so good, Gervais saying to Tommy Walsh “You say that again Titchmarsh, and I’ll put your wob eyed face through that fucking gazebo”, Tony Green remarking “I thought it was mutton shutters!” and Paul Daniels saying “Errrr… tits!” are all great highlights. I’m never sure if I like Gervais as a person, but he’s incredibly talented.I’ve still got 5/6 to watch and I can’t remember what happens fully in them, so might be more great stuff too.

Had some more interesting conversations with Jack (who, incidentally, now has a mullet, a mullet), I can’t really print details, but when the term ‘Red Pepper, Green Pepper’ is being used to decide whether someone is a good girl or not, you know it’s got to be okay.

I’ve been reading The Blind Side, a book about the life of Michael Oher, who is a Left Tackle, it’s been great so far, the film of the book opens on Friday so I’m looking forward to that coming out, I’ll finish the book before I try to download it.

Probably some more stuff needs mentioned, but it’s 5:43, I should probably get some beauty sleep.

France/Ireland tomorrow, well, tonight, exciting!

I LOVE ELMO!!!!

Sunday is the day of rest. If you had to work, like me, let me give you something to cheer you up!

British humour is not for everybody. It sure does make fun of everybody though!

Martin Scorsese

By Gregg Kilday – HollywoodReporter.com

The Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. will bestow its highest honor, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, on Martin Scorsese at the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 17.

The award recognizes “outstanding contribution to the entertainment field”; the most recent recipients have been Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty, Anthony Hopkins, Robin Williams and Michael Douglas.

Scorsese presented the award to Spielberg at the Golden Globes broadcast in January.

An Oscar winner for directing “The Departed,” Scorsese also has picked up two Golden Globes — for directing “Departed” and “Gangs of New York” — and has five additional Globe noms.

His next film, “Shutter Island,” will be released Feb. 19 by Paramount.

NBC will be broadcast the Globes from the Beverly Hilton; Ricky Gervais is the host.

Nominations will be announced Dec. 15.

Amazon Specials!

iLaugh

Hard to believe that in my short lifetime I’ve experienced the glory of classic AM pop radio, the summit of FM rock radio, the death of terrestrial radio (thanks, right-wing nutjobs and lip-synching pop artists) and the launch of Satellite radio. Somehow, after all that, radio still sucks.

Thank goodness for podcasts.

Of course, the downside to radio at your own terms is that you are able to listen at your own terms. No longer are you tethered to a live broadcast or a physical medium, so you can stack these puppies up like 45s on a spindle and fire one off after another. Productivity? Kiss it goodbye. Family obligations? Whoops!

Hey, in modern society people don’t communicate directly, anyway. This is just another excuse to isolate your sorry ass. So as long as you are going to walk around like a zombie with earbuds, at least let me point you towards some great podcasts so you can laugh out loud while you do so and keep the curious people even further away from you so you can wallow in your self-centered haze…

Alone again, unnaturally

Bill Burr: Monday Morning Podcast. It’s one thing to think quick on your feet, but what do you call it when you’re sitting in a chair? Burr just gets better and better.

Will Durst: A Burst of Durst. Vastly underrated comedian with razor sharp political savvy, a less angry Lewis Black. Grab his CDs – they’re excellent.

Marc Maron: WTF. For my money, one of the three greatest standups working today, along with Doug Stanhope and Louis CK. Twice a week I get to eavesdrop on a conversation I’d kill to be part of.

Jimmy Pardo: Never Not Funny. Three way fun with co-host Matt Balknap and a comedian guest, seemingly plotless but that’s the fun.

Comedy Nerd: The Stand Up Chronicles. Comedians fascinate me, so if I like their routines, I like interviews and features about them as well. Adam has a great ecletic list of comics here.

Ricky Gervais: The Ricky Gervais Podcasts. Don’t let the bland name fool you – he’s never done anything unfunny in his life. Might be on hiatus for now but enough of a backlog to savor.

Doug Benson: I Love Movies. Filmed live in front of an audience at the UCB Theatre and featuring great guests, it’s movie chat and buzzed comedy.

Dylan Gadino: A Tight 5ive. Five minute conversations between the Editor of Punchline Magazine and comics playing at Comix in NYC.

Jon Fisch: In The Tank. A comic who should be better known and a host of visitors chew the fat. Informal and relaxed to the point that they might forget they’re taping.

John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman: The Bugle. I see your RomComs and raise you two BritTwits.

Not secret or hidden Bonus Track: Comedy Death Ray

theyPod

There are tons more, of course. Some of my favorite comedians do them very well. Some others who I think would absolutely kill at it (I’m talking to you, Norm MacDonald) just aren’t interested or don’t have the time (or they’re Luddites). Many routines and programs are available for audio and/or video download, of course, but that’s just a convenient way to access already established content. I’m more interested in ones like the above; original material created just for the podcast.

Not saying these are the best shows or even The Best Show; your mileage may vary. Hell, I hope it does!  Enjoy…

Did somebody say Firesign Theatre?

Un film del 2009, regia di Ricky Gervais, con Ricky Gervais / Jennifer Garner / Jonah Hill / Jason Bateman. Prodotto da ()

Commedia

In un mondo in cui non esiste il concetto di menzogna un uomo sfortunato di nome Mark improvvisamente scopre le bugie e decide di sfruttare la capacità di mentire per migliorare la sua condizione. Ma ben presto la situazione inzia a sfuggirgli di mano e le cose si complicano quando Mark proverà a mentire alla donna che ama.

BBC ENTERTAINMENT, 22:00 HRS, JUEVES 12 NOVIEMBRE

SKY 203, CABLEVISIÓN 206

BBC Entertainment estrena con exclusividad para América Latina, los nuevos episodios de la irreverente e inteligente serie The Jonathan Ross Show. Con encanto y humor, Jonathan Ross crea un ambiente que permite que invitados del calibre de Jamie Oliver, Eva Mendes, Sir David Attenborough, Shakira y Boy George se relajen y respondan con sinceridad a sus preguntas casi siempre impredecibles. La nueva temporada de The Jonathan Ross Show estrena en América Latina exclusivamente a través de BBC Entertainment, todos los jueves a las 22h00 (Horario de México), a partir del 12 de noviembre.

Jonathan Ross / BBC / 2009

Para iniciar esta temporada sus Invitados son: Jamie Oliver, un famoso Chef Inglés, Ricky Gervais, creador de THE OFFICE,  y Mika el cantante inglés que tanta fama ha tenido con hits como “Grace Kelly” y “Love Today”.

ich habe soooo gelacht!

ich freu mich soooooo sehr auf die podcast animation! ich höre schon seit 1,5 jahren ALLE ricky gervais shows, ungefähr 50 h !!!! wirklich!! XFM mit karl pilkington und steven merchant. oh my. das beste des letzten Jahrzehnts!

Matthew McConaughey is one of those actors I can’t help but like. He’s a man who — in the real world — seems like a perfectly affable party fiend who would be fun to hang around with. Someone who doesn’t really give a damn, who makes movies to fund his lifestyle, and only gets to make movies because he’s just popular enough to justify a continued career. He’s famous for pot-smoking, naked bongo playing, and anecdotes about goat sex. His website is so completely “him” it’s as if he has been reduced to a computer echo of himself, a la Jeff Bridges in Tron, and then blasted onto our screens as a series of chill statements and photos of him on mountains, complete with lazy faux-dub rhythms in the background. The most lovable things on the site are the randomised “McConaughey Facts” that pop up at the bottom of the screen. Sample McConaughey Fact: “In my most recent trip to Papua New Guinea I was inducted into the Kuppa Tribe of the Malagan Clan.” That’s just so McConaughey.

As I’ve said many a time, anyone who can laugh at himself is all right in my book. When presented with footage of Matt Damon doing an impression of him on Letterman…

…he seemed to take it with good humour. (It’s about two minutes from the end of the clip.)

My favourite thing about that clip is that at the end of the interview, as the presenter is trying to wrap things up, he goes off on a tangent about spending his Christmas with a family he once visited as an exchange student. It’s right out of nowhere, but that burning need to communicate some random fact about himself for no reason other than that he seems to be looking forward to the excursion is something I — a notorious blabbermouth — can really relate to.

Even though I find McConaughey the Man endlessly entertaining, McConaughey the Actor is another matter. Watching one of his movies is a bit of a crapshoot. Will we get one of his committed performances, such as his delicate turn in Robert Zemeckis’ Contact, or as the demented Van Zan in Reign of Fire (which he was easily the best thing about)? Or will it be a frustratingly light but not particularly funny effort, as in Ron Howard’s instantly forgettable EdTV? For every Frailty or Lone Star there is a Wedding Planner, a Fool’s Gold, and probably a Failure To Launch to boot. Appearing in disposable romcoms might work to keep him in sex wax and bandannas, but it makes following his career difficult. Any hope that he might become Brad Pitt to Richard Linklater’s David Fincher fell apart when The Newton Boys came and went without making a ripple in the popular consciousness. He’s doing better than former girlfriend and fellow romcom stalwart Sandra Bullock right now, but it’s becoming touch and go.

He doesn’t even have an action career to fall back on. U-571 is only memorable for the shameful lies about the Enigma decoding effort, and Sahara — a film I quite like — is notorious for being one of the rare projects whose financial workings have been put on display for all the world to laugh at. Though not me. Seriously, I liked it. It was refreshingly irony-free, just a big crazy adventure about guys who get into scrapes for fun and do the right thing with no soul-searching. It was not of its time, sadly. It’s another film used as a short-hand for excessive Hollywood trash by people who haven’t seen it. Yes, it was obscenely expensive, and there’s no argument for that, but it’s got some charm. With about 20-25 minutes lopped out, it would’ve been treated with a lot more affection.

Unfortunately Ghosts of Girlfriends Past sees too much of the coasting McConaughey, with only hints of his real film-star energy. In a very loose adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore aim for easy emotional targets and don’t bother to complicate the story too much. McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a photographer with Austin Powers’ hunger for consequence-free sexual encounter but none of the dental problems. Forced by a flicker of conscience to attend his brother’s wedding, Mead quickly upsets and alienates the wedding guests with his cynical anti-marriage attitude, until he is visited by the ghost of his lothario uncle Wayne, played as a Robert Evans/Hugh Hefner hybrid by Michael Douglas. Wayne warns his Scrooge-like nephew that he will be visited by three “ghosts” (though at least one of them is still alive; the movie ties itself in knots trying to be light while addressing themes of death and loneliness). These apparitions — who enjoyably treat the “visions” like interactive videos — show Mead the miserable consequences of his actions, and reveal the reason he’s so emotionally disconnected: as a teenager, he was snubbed by his true love, Jenny Perotti (Jennifer Garner). It broke his heart and sent him to find solace in the dubious wisdom of Uncle Wayne.

Mead’s dark night of the soul forces him to accept the idea of true love just in time to help his brother (Breckin Meyer) marry his long-term sweetheart (an unbearably whiny Lacey Chabert), and to rescue Jenny from a relationship with potential suitor Brad (Daniel Sunjata). This last task is the most problematic one in a movie that otherwise has too many easy answers. Though we’re meant to side with Mead as he throws off his selfish persona, he’s also trying to ruin a potential relationship between Jenny and a scarily handsome volunteer with Doctors Without Borders who seems to be a really sweet guy. Mead, on the other hand, is intolerably arrogant and thoughtless, though he maintains the same level of oily charm throughout. McConaughey isn’t given enough room to adequately show his conversion to the cause of love, so that while Dickens did a thorough job of showing how Scrooge could change from curmudgeon to saint, Mead’s post-revelation persona seems much like his previous personality, except more manic.

This isn’t the only problem. Lucas and Moore’s script holds few surprises and fewer laughs than even their inexplicably popular breakout hit The Hangover. Director Mark Waters, whose work on The Spiderwick Chronicles was so impressive, manages to bring some life to this formulaic project, with the added bonus that he lights the movie with something other than a very very bright light — a concept that seemed to elude the directors of other 2009 romcoms, especially the biggest romantic comedy hits of the year, Robert Luketic’s The Ugly Truth and Anne Fletcher’s The Proposal. Waters also gets entertaining performances from Michael Douglas and Emma Stone as the “ghost” who deflowered Mead in college. Garner is given less to do, but she sells her big emotional moments, including a moving bedroom scene midway through. It’s also McConaughey’s best scene, with Mead forced to watch his past self mistreat the woman he loves simply because he’s scared of his feelings. In moments like that, the conceit of making the romcom Christmas Carol seems more inspired than it actually is.

My affection for Garner is even greater than my support for McConaughey. Ever since her career-making turn in Alias, I’ve been a huge fan, obnoxiously maintaining that she would get an Oscar nomination (at least!) by the end of the decade. Unless the Academy is going to surprise me and give her a nod for her extremely entertaining turn in The Invention of Lying, I think I’m going to come up short on that one. Her decision to cut down on film roles while raising her children is an understandable one, but I wish she made more movies. There hasn’t been a single film featuring Garner that wasn’t massively improved by her presence — even something as weak as Daredevil occasionally flies thanks to her. In fact, the only thing that didn’t suck about Electra was her performance as the titular assassin; she brought far more pathos and commitment to the project than it deserved.

Compare Ghosts of Girlfriends Past to The Invention of Lying, which was even more fascinated with the interplay of honesty and self-deception. After a brilliant riff on belief and religion, it spends a long, entertaining time banging its head against the disparity between the concepts of love and biological necessity, playing games with the conventions of the genre while at the same time pointing an accusing finger at the audience for expecting such cliches. (500) Days of Summer plays a similar trick; a love-struck Joseph Gordon-Levitt is beguiled by a romantic vision of life soundtracked by The Smiths and Belle & Sebastian and then left crushed by the realisation that he’s been deluding himself as much as he has been lied to by Zooey Deschanel’s idealised Summer. Compared to those two movies, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has no big ideas to share, other than that love is all you need.

Maybe it’s unfair to give Ghosts of Girlfriends Past a black mark for not matching up to the ambition of Gervais and Robinson’s high-concept fantasy or Mark Webb’s deconstruction, but now that filmmakers seem eager to break the genre down in order to build it back up, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past might end up being the last even vaguely entertaining traditional romcom made. Surely we can at least give it gold stars for being a more involving, charming, and imaginative movie than those flat and cynical laugh-free disasters The Proposal and The Ugly Truth. Where they trade in cheeky, strained jokes about sex and modern gender politics, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past has more luck focusing on the people in the relationship than the gimmicks that get in their way, and then trounces those films completely by casting two charming actors who seem to have some sparks together. Though McConaughey’s performance is disappointing and lacks modulation, the relentless charm that stops him from hitting a deeper note still has its uses. More so than many male leads in recent romcoms, at least he can flash a winning smile and drawl some flirty come-on with naughty aplomb, and when he’s matched with Garner’s wholesome persona, it’s hard to dismiss the rote shenanigans completely. Sometimes, making a reasonably successful movie really is that simple.