22/50x2: Go

I really enjoy films (and even television shows) that show different points of view or different stories that all come together in the end in some way, shape or form.

Of course, it helps when the story is interesting and the conclusion comes together well.

Go worked in all of those ways. The film follows three different storylines, the one of Ronna (Sarah Polley), the one of Simon (Desmond Askew) and the one of Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr).

It all starts with the fact that Ronna is about to get evicted from her apartment and so close to Christmas Eve. Ronna, Simon and Claire (Katie Holmes) all work in a local grocery store. When Simon hears of Ronna's need for extra cash, he offers up one of his shifts at the store. Of course, he has selfish motives at hand as well, as he wants to head to Vegas with his friends.

While working in the store a couple of guys, Adam and Zack, ask where Simon is. Simon is a drug dealer on the side and they are looking to score some ecstasy. Looking for some easy money, Ronna offers to help them out and agrees to meet them later with the drugs.

What Ronna doesn't know, though, is that Adam and Zack are actually a couple of soap opera actors who were busted for possession and are now helping Burke (William Fichtner) track down Simon.

Ronna, Claire and Mannie (Nathan Bexton) travel to Simon's drug supplier's house, Todd (Timothy Olyphant) to try and get him to allow her to sell this one time. She doesn't, however, have enough money o purchase the amount of drugs they want, and as collateral leaves Claire behind until she can make the deal.

This is pretty much the main storyline and the other two weave their way back into this one. So, I will leave it at that.

Let's just say that things sort of go wrong completely for each person who is the lead in each storyline. But, it is definitely interesting, and pretty fun, to see how things come together in the end and how things end.

I actually found it quite interesting that in a movie with so many actors that we have come to know, two lesser knowns actually have the lead roles. I can't for the life of me recall another Sarah Polley or Desmond Askew film. I didn't even mention that actors Taye Diggs and Breckin Meyer are heavily featured in Simon's story, and a much younger Melissa McCarthy and Jane Krakowski were featured Zack and Adam's story.

As I said, it was an interesting film and a great way to tell the story with three separate stories. I very compelled to see where everything was going, and it didn't disappoint.

Grade:

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

I have a question - when did Matthew McConaughey decide to strictly do these romantic comedies?

I mean, he has some quality films in his resume - namely Dazed & Confused and A Time to Kill - not to mention a lesser known film Frailty. But, for every one of those films he makes there seems to be at least three romantic comedies. Is it the southern drawl that brings the ladies in?

Anyway, here he is again in the film Ghosts of Girlfriends Past - which is an updated and modified version of A Christmas Carol.

McConaughey stars as Connor Mead, a high-profile photographer who has become a womanizer and basically modeled his entire existence after his Uncle Wayne (Michael Douglas).

Mead heads back to his uncle's old house as his younger brother, Paul (Breckin Meyer) is getting married to Sandra (Lacey Chabert). One of Sandra's bridesmaids just so happens to be a woman that Mead dated and left - and was also his best friend as a child - Jenny (Jennifer Garner).

As he begins to get those old feelings again for Jenny, he is visited by three separate ghosts a la Ebenezer Scrooge.

For me, it was the ghosts that truly made this film passable. They were extremely funny - especially the ghost of girls past, Allison (Emma Stone). Allison was Mead's first conquest back in high school.

Of course, the rest of the film is rather predictable as we see into Mead's past to find out why exactly he became the way he did. And, is it possible that he can change just like Scrooge did in A Christmas Carol?

Again, most of these films - in different ways - almost always end up telling the same story, so nothing should be a surprise when the ending comes. However, some do end up telling the story in a good way - and like I said, the ghosts definitely made this film somewhat enjoyable, but without them it probably wouldn't have gotten as high of a grade (and no the grade was not planned).

Grade: