My Super Ex-Girlfriend film review

certificate_12A

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND

Ivan Reitman was once one of Hollywood's hottest young comedy directors, known for the edge he brought to films such as Stripes and Meatballs, as well as the stars he helped to create: among them John Belushi, Bill Murray and John Candy. His recent form has been patchy however, exemplified by his last outing, the execrable 2001 release Evolution. He's failed to improve matters much with My Super Ex-Girlfriend, a sloppy romantic comedy which fails to live up to the promise of its fairly decent concept.

Rather like Galaxy Quest or Mystery Men (two far superior offerings), My Super Ex-Girlfriend aims at the geek in all of us. Luke Wilson plays Matt, an average Joe who has just about given up on the idea of finding Miss Right. But spurred on by his colleague Vaughn (Rainn Wilson), he approaches the timid Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman) on a subway train and soon enough they are happily dating.

Little does Matt realise what he is in for. Timid Jenny leads a double life: neurotic art historian by day and superheroine by night. Jenny is also none other than G-Girl, a sexy saviour who flies around the city putting out fires, saving children from peril and stopping crimes before they happen. When Matt eventually decides that Jenny is a little too tense and clingy for him and that his true affections lie with his office workmate Hannah (Anna Faris), he dumps Jenny and unwittingly provokes a backlash. Hell hath no fury like a superheroine scorned.

There's one laugh-out-loud moment in the film: the first time Matt and Jenny have sex, when she uses her special powers to make it a superhuman moment. Otherwise this is a rather flat and heavy-handed effort. It's not the fault of the performers, who try their best (both leads are overshadowed by rising star Wilson's turn as the uber-confident geek), but thanks to some leaden direction and awkward script moments, the laughs soon dry up.

It's all a bit of a shame, given that the original idea is not a bad one. However, when a 95 minute comedy feels twice as long, has an ending that defies logic and wastes Eddie Izzard in a supporting role, then the alarm bells begin to ring. Not even a superhero of comedy could save this one.

Paul Hurley