Movie Reviews

Sometimes you go into a film dreading the worst and are pleasantly surprised by the result.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout Ivan Reitman’s new super-hero/comic extravaganza – My Super Ex-Girlfriend.  In a year with V for Vendetta, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Superman Returns who would have thought that this would be the best comic book movie of the year?

My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Custom Rating

Ivan Reitman‘s recent directoral record has been rocky – he hasn’t directed a really good film since the year I graduated from high school (1993’s Dave).  But here, despite all reason, he delivers the goods.  He gets the super-hero model right along with understanding how constantly saving people might play on a person’s mind and nerves, creating humorous results.  And it remembers to bring the FUN of super-powers – something Superman Returns sorely lacked through must of it’s two and a half hour running time.

Matt Sanders (Luke Wilson) is your average film nice guy.  He works hard, is compassionate and smart, has a crush on a female co-worker, Hannah (Anna Faris), who is involved with an underwear model.  He also has a lecherous womanizing best friend (Rainn Wilson).  His life is rather ordinary, but all of that changes when he meets Jenny Jones (Uma Thurman).

Jenny seems a little needy and a couple of marbles short of a full bag, but she’s nice and the two get along.  As the relationship deepens Matt finds her odd behavior scary until he learns her secret – Jenny is actually the super-hero G-Girl!  With the truth in the open things get back to normal until Jenny’s neurotic jealousy and her evil arch-nemisis Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) both start disrupting Matt’s world.

When Matt breaks up with Jenny he finds that a scorned super-woman is even worse than the regular kind.  What will Matt do?  Will he make peace with Jenny?  Will he take Bedlam up on his offer to get rid of G-Girl?  Will he ever admit his feelings to Hannah?

The film has a comic undertone that works so well I was grinning from ear-to-ear for most of the film.  It’s cheesy, corny, and fun, but it takes the characters seriously and that makes all the difference.  Thurman is a little whiny in her performance (but nowhere near as bad as the trailers suggest), but with that we get exploration of the reasons behind her behavior and one pretty darned good origin story that Stan Lee himself would be proud of!

Even the small parts have nice comic touches such as Wanda Sykes playing Matt’s boss or Margaret Anne Florence as the recurring role of the sexy barmaid who has caught Vaughn’s eye.  And Anna Faris is just terrific here as she breaks out of those dumb blonde roles she seems forever mired in and and plays a character with some brains and heart.

All that and some super-cool fight sequences on the streets of New York which will make fans of Supeman II giggle with joy.

So far this is easily the best comic book move of the year.  After dealing with the mixture of good and bad in Superman Returns and V for Vendetta (and the utter disaster of X-Men: The Last Stand) it’s nice to simply enjoy a super-hero flick.  What a great surprise to find in the middle of this rather lackluster summer!

You’ve seen this film before, we all have.  The clumsy, klutz, problem friend who ends up causing problem for a loving couple.  We’ll now you can see it again!  Joy.  Too predictable, and once again this year we find a film that breaks our “One Dumb Move Rule.”  Given its faults the film can only choose to try and skate by on the charm of its stars.  Now, it has quite a bit of charm, but not that much.

You, Me and Dupree
2 Stars

A premise about a good hearted but annoying friend can only take you so far.  The charm of you stars can take you a little further, but in the end if there’s no real point, and your movie is relying solely on gags and disaster scenes, you’ve got a problem.  You, Me and Dupree isn’t terrible, hell it’s even bearable for the most part.  It’s just not very good, but compared to Kate Hudson’s recent string of insipid romantic comedies it’s actually an improvement.

Dupree (Owen Wilson) is an idiot, klutz, emotionally stunted, and a fool (except when the movie needs him to be clever, suave, romantic, and wise).  His best friend Carl Peterson (Matt Dillon) has just gotten married to a lovely girl named Molly (Kate Hudson).  For taking time off for the wedding to serve as Carl’s best man Dupree gets fired and loses his job, car, and apartment.  So Dupree moves in with the couple.

From here you can tell where the story will go.  Dupree will infuriate Molly to the point where he’ll get thrown out.  Only then Molly will feel sorry for him and find the “true man” beneath the surface angering Carl to no end.

There’s also a subplot involving Carl who works for Kate’s father Mr. Thompson (Michael Douglas).  Thompson does everything he can to ridicule and belittle his new son-in-law despite his apparent love for his daughter.  I do have to give kudos for the casting here; the scenes with Douglas and Hudson come off surprisingly well.

The film starts to fall apart when every issue and problem can be solved with a simple talk.  Hence, the movie breaks our “One Dumb Move Rule” where one simple move, word, or action can solve the conflict and isn’t done simply to continue the contrived plot device in which the characters have been imprisoned by the writer and director.

Despite it’s problems the film does have some charm and a few funny moments.  It’s much better than this years Failure to Launch (what isn’t?), but still not good enough for me to recommend to you.  Still fans of Hudson’s romantic comedies should enjoy themselves here.

The film is just too predictable.  The jokes or “surprises” you’ll see coming long before any of the characters, and the contrived problems could have been easily solved with a simple talk.  The cast puts forth some good performances trying to save this one; even if they don’t quite succeed the effort itself is something to be proud of.