My Super Ex-Girlfriend

My Super Ex-Girlfriend posterI saw this movie a little over a month ago with my super ex-girlfriend. This is funny for two reasons; one being the obvious and the other because I also took in The Break-Up with her. Checking out that one was my idea because I thought it would be more comedy than anything else, but that was so not the case. This one was her choice, probably mostly because she’s a Luke Wilson fan.

Watching movies about breaking-up with your Ex is like watching a movie with sex on a first date; a bit uncomfortable. Of course, that was probably more true of the other movie than this one. Remember, I got “smacked in the face” by that one.

Anyway, I just never got around to writing about it and I figured I’d leave it until later. Well, later is now and I’m sure this will be out on DVD pretty soon and I encourage you to check it out.

It’s surprising that Ivan Reitman would put on the director hat for this one. Then again, as you look over his fairly short list of director credits, he probably should give it up. The guy hasn’t done a film that was good since Ghostbusters. Other than that, Stripes was good, Meatballs deserves mention just because and some of the rest were probably just okay at the time but sure don’t stand up now. I think this one will join the rest in that company. Maybe he should stick to producing.

I will give this movie some credit for being better than its trailer. What I mean by that is it actually saved some funny stuff for the movie and didn’t fill the trailer with all the good stuff, which was a decent trailer in its own right. This seems to be a trend with the trailers for recent comedies and it is refreshing that this one broke it.

As for the story itself, it was okay. It’s basically the usual break-up story, but the jilted and sanity challenged girl happens to have superpowers. Would you want to break-up with a girl that can put your car in orbit or chuck a Great White shark through a window at you? It would be wise to get yourself dumped for being a boring, lay-about rather than a cheating asshat.

That’s not to say that’s how it went down in the movie. The basic premise, and I don’t think this spoils anything, is that Wilson finds out Uma is in fact G-Girl after he has been dating her secret identity for a short time. With this knowledge, he sticks out the relationship a bit longer after having decided he wanted out after a few dates. Of course, he eventually can’t stand it even with the superhero sex, so he cuts the cord and Uma seeks her revenge at every corner to make his life miserable.

As for Uma, well I’m not so certain she fit in the role. She looked horrible as her alter-ego, but I guess that was the point. The whole G-Girl thing reminded me of Retro Girl from the Powers comic book, but probably just because of the similarity in looks. I think I don’t like Uma when she plays a mean character, so maybe that was another thing that rubbed me the wrong way about her performance.

A hightlight, for me at least, was Anna Faris’ turn as Wilson’s workplace crush. I only know her from from the Scary Movie series and I haven’t seen any of them. For one, I may have walked out there a fan of hers just because I thought she was super cute, but also because I thought she did a nice job with the role and have you the belief that she was her character. I know, that’s easier to do for lesser known actors, but she still did it.

The movie also featured Rainn Wilson — Dwight from The Office — as Luke Wilson’s (no relation) best friend. I think Rainn did a decent job of distancing himself from Dwight, but because he was still wearing glasses, it was hard not to keep thinking about it. His character also disappeared for a sizable chunk of the second half of the film, so that was weird.

Lastly, one of my favorite comedians and “executive/action transvestites” appears as G-Girl’s nemesis, Professor Bedlam. That would be Eddie Izzard and I was surprised to see him as I didn’t know going in that he was in the flick. It was too bad they didn’t do more with him in the story either. He’s used sparingly and his website provides more than the film does. I think if they brought more of him in as the bad guy slash super villain slash evil genius opposite G-Girl, it would have been a good offset to the romance/relationship stuff. It could have even added to the comedy and made for a better story.

So, I recommend you check it out for at least the supporting performances more than the headliners. It’s worth the price of a rental and you’ll get some good laughs.