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by Willie Waffle

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My Super Ex-Girlfriend

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a movie desperately trying to be hip as it riffs on the super hero genre, but the writer and director don’t love the subject enough to make it work.  The best parodies come from people who love the target (The Incredibles), and know how to point out its sillier side (Anchorman).  My Super Ex-Girlfriend needed acclaimed comic fan and director Kevin Smith at the helm.  Now, THAT is a movie I would want to see, and one he would make endearing to the audience.      

Luke Wilson stars as Matt Saunders – a forlorn guy sadly in love with his co-worker, Hannah (Anna Faris).  Of course, she’s dating a studly, dimwitted model (Mark Consuelos), so Matt decides to ask out a nice lady, Jenny (Uma Thurman), he meets on the subway as he tries to rescue her purse from a thief.  However, Jenny is not your run of the mill girl next door-type.  Jenny is just the Clark Kent-like alias for superhero G-Girl.  As Matt and Jenny/G-Girl’s relationship begins to progress, Matt realizes she’s a bit stifling, controlling and distrustful.  When Matt decides to end the relationship, he finds out G-Girl is PSYCHO. 

Will G-Girl ruin Matt’s life as she exacts revenge on him for breaking her heart? 

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a bland movie that isn’t quite sure if it is a parody of romantic comedies, parody of superhero movies or parody of Uma Thurman.  Writer Don Payne makes a half-hearted attempt to lampoon the typical scenes we expect like the super hero origin, and provides some laughs, but they are few and far between, and feel like they are done out of obligation rather than in an attempt to do something cool and fun.  The result is a movie with a plodding pace, predictable twists and turns, and forced scenes that don’t flow. 

Here’s the worst aspect of the film.  We get the most laughs from watching G-Girl get revenge on Matt after the break up, but she has no reason to be the woman scorned.  She’s the one who is putting pressure on the relationship with her behavior, so it’s not funny or redeeming or fantasy fulfilling to watch her give Matt what he had coming, because he doesn’t have it coming!  Even the origins of her battle against arch nemesis Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) make her look like the villain instead of a superhero.  This revenge scenario was the main premise of the film, and Payne and director Ivan Reitman try to build around it, but fail miserably.  This leaves the cast exposed and trying to make something out of nothing at all.  

Thurman is OK, but never really goes far enough to be crazy (she was much funnier in The Producers).  Reitman isn’t committed to making her absolutely nuts, so she never hits the extremes that make a movie funny.  Wilson is the less talented and less interesting of the Wilson Brothers, so he slogs through without much energy, and never hits the highs of his best work, Old School.  Finally, Reitman and Payne desperately try to make Rainn Wilson from The Office into the joke machine a la Vince Vaughn, and he is funny, but it feels forced from him. 

It’s a PG-13 movie with 3 sex scenes(!), so parents might want to watch out. 

1 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)

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