Dir. Ivan Reitman, US, 2006, 95 mins
Cast: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris, Eddie Izzard
Review by Will Davis
Anyone hoping for an intelligent and sassy superhero flick along the lines of The Incredibles or even Sky High is likely to be disappointed with this lacklustre screwball comedy. More is the pity because My Super Ex-Girlfriend has a fun concept, exploring the genuine personal relationship problems a contemporary crusader might encounter whilst trying to live up to social expectations of being a woman in modern metropolis as well as the somewhat larger-scale ones entailed in being a superhero.
When Matt (Wilson) starts dating Jenny (Thurman), the beautiful but neurotic curator of an art gallery, he little suspects he is also dating G-Girl, superheroine extraordinaire, who basically has the same powers as Superman and the same job of saving people from untimely demises. At first Matt wonders if Jenny isn’t crazy, but when he finds out she is G-Girl he puts her erratic behaviour down to her dual identity. But when he decides Jenny is just too needy and jealous, he tries to break it off with her, only for her to exact an increasingly dangerous series of punishments in vengeance. Matt’s only hope is to turn to her arch nemesis, Professor Bedlam (Izzard), who may have found a way to neutralise her powers.
The biggest problem with this film is that the humour never quite (unlike the rip-roaring G-Girl) takes off. Unless the viewer actually subscribes to yesterday’s aphorisms about gender roles - Men are from Mars, Woman are from Venus style – they are liable to find the jokes more clichéd and (at best) smirk-worthy than laugh-out-loud funny. There are one or two good one-liners, such as when G-Girl mentions to Matt over dinner that she always knew he would take her back, which is why she didn’t simply kill him, but for the most part the dialogue is uninspiring, particularly that of protagonist Matt. Emotionally it is very difficult to engage with his character because he is so blandly ordinary, and also keeps noxious company in the form of a repellent, sex-obsessed best friend. Instead, far more identifiable is the character of Jenny, who is meant to be the antagonist, acting crazy and ruining Matt’s life. But having witnessed her save lives multiple times throughout the film, no matter how neurotic or unreasonable she might get, sympathy still resides with her when Matt decides they need to break up. Since the director/screenwriter has chosen to make Jenny quite a complex character, it’s never quite made clear what her experiences with other men have been or why she is so desperately needy and manipulative.
The visual inventiveness of this film is easily its strongest selling point: witnessing Jenny/G-Girl throwing a great white shark through a window at Matt, or putting out a fire by whirling around and sucking the flames into the sky is just as neat as watching any of the X-men or Batman doing their thing, and it is physically when the comedy caper routines work best.
But ultimately the title of this film gives away the angle from which it addresses its subject matter. One can’t help but feel what could have been a fresh, witty and unusual perspective on the crusader genre - especially given the current trend for superhero films - has instead ended up little more than a frat-boy’s wet dream featuring Thurman in vertiginous heels and skimpy G-Girl outfits, with little else to recommend it.
Fox Home Entertainment have announced
the UK Region 2 DVD release of My Super Ex-Girlfriend for
4th December 2006 priced at £17.99.
- 2.40:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
- English DD5.1 Surround
- English HOH subtitles
- Commentary by director Ivan Reitman and writer Don Payne
- Six deleted scenes with optional commentary by Ivan Reitman
and Don Payne:
- Flashback: Barry and Jenny decide on a name for her
secret identity (1 mins 34 secs)
- Flashback: Jenny’s cheerleader
tryouts (52 secs)
- Jenny shows Matt her super closet (1 min 23 secs)
- Defending Jenny’s honour
(3 mins 45 secs)
- Extended shark sequence (7 mins 34 secs)
- Alternate dialogue ending (21 secs)
- Three featurettes:
- Making Of Super-Ex (15 mins)
- Your Worst date (4 mins)
- Von’s Advise (4 mins)
- Multi-angle sequence: Anatomy Of
The Shark Scene (3 angles – 4
mins each)
- Theatrical trailer (3 mins 4 secs)
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