There
was a time when Ivan Reitman, might have rightly been considered the king of the
big screen comedy. He and Harold Ramis and Bill Murray cornered the market on
the genre for a period of years. As I watched his new baby My Super Ex-Girlfriend
it became clear that Reitman hasn't changed, it's the times that have changed.
It was also difficult not to feel a little bad for the man, after all his son
has directed without question the funniest film of the year and did it on his
first try (I'm not counting Borat because it hasn't been released). As I watched
this good premise so poorly executed, I thought "man he should have called
his kid in, at least in the editing."
Uma
Thurman plays the title character, a girl who once touched a meteor and as a result
has just about every super-power in the book. She's completely invincible and
uses her powers to save the day, but the task has become somewhat burdensome.
When Luke Wilson meets her alter-ego Jenny Johnson on a subway he makes an awkward
pass, but when a purse snatcher grabs Jenny's bag, Luke runs the guy down and
manages to retrieve it. So touched is G-Girl (Uma) that someone has finally helped
her after years of always helping other people, that she falls for Wilson and
they begin seeing each other.
Truly
the film has a lot of funny and charming moments, but with such a wonderfully
rich premise, much of it's potential is squandered on cheap gags and scenes that
exist solely because they lead to a punchline. The biggest problem I had with
the film was the fact that Reitman doesn't allow Wilson and Thruman's relationship
to develop. Thurman goes wacko before we have a chance to have any fun with the
relationship between Superwoman and Lois Luke. The film would have been much more
effective had they explored that dynamic a little better. As it is, everything
turns sour almost immediately and then the movie is just about cheap revenge gags.
There's one scene courtesy of Spielberg that was a hilarious touch, but much of
this part of the film was surprisingly misogynistic and unfunny.
Eddie
Izzard was effective as G-Girl's nemesis, but Rainn Wilson (The Office) really
became annoying, in fact he was annoying right out of the gate, mostly due to
piss poor writing. And I was also surprised because this is the first film I've
seen with Anna Faris where she didn't end up stealing the movie. She just wasn't
her usual hilarious self. Uma is really the saving grace of the film, she really
embraces the insanity of her jealous superhero. Wilson isn't bad, but this is
the sort of role where he generally excels (trying to remain sane, while everything
around him is falling apart) and he really did little to capitalize. He seemed
kind of bloated and dishy and hungover – he wasn't his usual handsome self
and it just didn't seem like his heart was in it.
If
I go into any more detail I'll be getting into spoiler territory, I'll just say
that the film is enjoyable at times and has it's share of clever and funny bits,
but it shot it's wad too early and then just limped to the finish line. I found
myself more often frustrated that the film wasn't better written and executed
- it really should have been a much more profoundly super-human experience.
