Film Reviews

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Anna Faris
• Details: US/ 95mins (12A).

'Why did you throw a shark at me?' Matt Saunders (Wilson) has always had bad luck with women but thinks he's found the perfect girl when he meets shy Jenny Johnson (Thurman).Things go well in the beginning, but when Matt realises that Jenny is needy, jealous and manipulative he breaks it off with her - never a good idea when she's the superhero G-Girl. G-Girl makes Matt's life such a misery that when her arch nemesis Professor Barry Bedlam (Izzard) approaches him with a plan to get rid of her for once and for all, he can't resist. My Super Ex-Girlfriend is the film equivalent of my three-year-old niece - fun, cute, sweet and harmless but incredibly annoying after fifteen minutes. But that's being unfair as she probably wrote this, which isn't bad for a three-year-old. Ivan Reitman has had the magic touch with comedy hits at the box office in the past; Stripes, Ghostbusters, Dave, Twins and Kindergarten Cop all did well but he has fallen short with this Superman-meets-Fatal Attraction mess. The major problem with My Super Ex-Girlfriend is in character: there is no one to root for. Wilson does his best to be the cheeky good guy but doesn't have his brother's appeal, and his Matt is too wimpy to get behind; Thurman turns in one of the most annoying performances of her career, so devoid of charm that she grates after ten minutes and gets worse after that. Matt's best friend Vaughn (Rainn Wilson) does the usual 'bad advice about women' routine that we've seen so many times before, and unless this kind of character has something new to say, then they shouldn't be written at all. As a parody of the superhero genre, it's just not funny enough; as an allegory on what women are expected to do these days - hold down a promising career, find a good man, save the world and look beautiful while you're doing it - it's just not funny enough either.

Review by Gavin Burke