>>REVIEW
MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND
STARRING Uma Thurman and Luke Wilson
DIRECTED BY Ivan Reitman
Now playing
Check listings
The career of Ivan Reitman is one of balance. For every critical and financial hit (Animal House), there is a humbling disaster keeping his career in check (Killing Me Softly). Somewhere between these two extremes is a careful groove of comfortable little films that seldom challenge but always entertain.
Such sweet irony when considering this one-time Canuck’s first film, Columbus of Sex, almost landed him in jail for indecency.
With his latest film, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Reitman tries his hand once again at the fantasy/comedy genre he so successfully mastered with Ghostbusters. This time around, the fantasy involves Uma Thruman as a bashful art curator by day and sexy superheroine by night.
The comedy comes (for the most part), in the form of Luke Wilson and his obnoxious right-hand man Rainn Wilson (The Office, Six Feet Under).
The premise is self-explanatory, but allow me to reiterate. Matt Saunders (Wilson), who harbours a subconscious love for a pretty blonde co-worker, Hannah (Anna Faris), is living the good life – working hard and playing hard in Manhattan with his conveniently crass pal Vaughn (Rainn Wilson). That is, until he dates and dumps G-Girl (Thurman) who, despite all the broken beds, is just way too clingy. Saunders, having realized his love for Hannah, must now deal with not just any jaded ex, but one capable of putting his car into orbit in the blink of an eye.
Despite Wilson and Wilson picking up on the wry tone of Don Payne’s (of The Simpson’s fame) script, Thurman’s talent is gravely misused. Her character feels needlessly over-developed.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend is no Ghostbusters. If only Reitman had dared to work Payne’s script to its full potential as a ribald comedy that fully embraced its sexist clichés, while undermining the fanatic super-heroine as a mere subplot. Some reviewers have criticized the film for being too sexist. I say it wasn’t sexist enough. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.