My Super Ex-Girlfriend Review
by Homer Yen (homer_yen AT yahoo DOT com)July 27th, 2006
"My Super Ex-Girlfriend" - Powerless to Make Us
Laugh
by Homer Yen
(c) 2006
Guy meets girl. Guy likes girl. Guy beds girl.
Guy breaks up with girl. Guy has just enraged a neurotic Superhero. Revenge on a super level
ensues.
On the surface, this seems like a great and
promising premise. Oh, the manner of revenge
that could be inflicted. Perhaps he could break
into an uncontrollable sweat during a critical
client presentation. Perhaps he could awaken on
the top of the Empire State Building and have to
climb his way down. Perhaps he could be dropped
off in a jungle of cannibals. You can insert
whatever ideas you have. Whatever it is though,
I'm sure that it would be funnier than what we
have here.
I'm not sure what happened. But creative
storytelling took a break during the making of
this film. "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" doesn't have
the power to make us laugh.
The film is about genial, nice-guy Matt (Luke
Wilson) who meets bookish-cute Jenny (Uma
Thurman). They are attracted to each other from
the get-go. Jenny has a few secrets. For
starter's, she's really G-Girl, the city's
superhero! And she's super-needy. And she's super-neurotic. Other than a modest desire to
help those in need, she really desires a
boyfriend. Maybe her super-biological clock is
ticking.
As G-Girl, she's really super. She has the kind
of powers that could gain her membership into the Justice League of America. There are some
interesting storytelling possibilities here. For example, because G-Girl is a superbabe, you would think that it'd be really easy for her to score a date. But wouldn't it be really amusing if she couldn't turn mens' heads and had to use her superpowers to get noticed?
Instead, she's kind of a vindictive psychopath.
If jilted, she'll use her laser beam vision to
carve out humiliating phrases on your forehead
and launch you across the room simply by
exhaling. This isn't a good role-model for the
kids.
The real kryptonite of the film is the
laid-back-but-seemingly-on-the-verge-of-a-good-idea Matt. He's kind of a limp counterpart to
G-Girl's persona. I think the term is wet
noodle. He never fights back. So, instead of
rooting for him, we kind of pity him. Perhaps a different actor in the lead would've been better.
It requires more physical comedy. Wasn't Jim
Carrey available? Even Jackie Chan would have
done well. Heck, Adam Sandler could've worked.
But while Luke Wilson is a likeable guy, he's
can't provide any kind of counterpunch when
standing next to the statuesque and voluptuous
Uma Thurman.
The comedy is terribly subdued. There's a mildly funny scene where Jenny meets Matt's mousy-yet-attractive co-worker, Hannah (Anna
Farris) over dinner. During their meeting, an
errant missile is on course to hit the city.
Matt coaxes Jenny to turn into G-girl and to save
the day. But she's the jealous type and would
rather busy herself getting to know Hannah. Apparently, G-Girl was absent from school that
day when they taught superheroes about great
powers and great responsibility. I'm siding with
Matt on this one. Here's a "Girlfriend" that you should dump.
Grade: C-
S: 1 out of 3
L: 1 out of 3
V: 1 out of 3
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