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Superhero movies, even if they’re played for laughs, need clear-cut goodies and baddies. The audience needs to know who to cheer for and who to hiss at. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a sweeping statement, perhaps there’s room to maneuver—a couple of plot twists here and there so the goodies can become baddies and vice-versa. However, certain roles need to be established early on so we can all sit back and enjoy our popcorn, without having to worry about cerebral overload. My Super Ex-Girlfriend didn’t have any plot twists as such, but I still didn’t know who to cheer for and who to hiss at.
Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) is a regular sort of guy. He’s in his thirties, not much of a dresser, and doesn’t seem to be able to get a girl. Then he crosses paths with Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman), who at first also seems quite normal. But Jenny has two secrets—she’s not quite all there in the sanity department, and she’s a superhero called G-Girl (think Supergirl with constant PMT). So it’s a case of boy meets girl, boy finds out girl is a superhero, boy tries to dump girl, girl goes psycho with super powers. Then
G-Girl’s nemesis Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) shows up and offers Matt a way out.
I imagine this is one of those movie ideas that looked good on paper. The reality of it, however, isn’t quite so winning. There are laughs, but they’re chuckles more than roars. Eddie Izzard provides the only really good character, but as the villain he’s not given much screen time. Luke Wilson is okay, but his role could have easily been played by Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell, both of whom would have probably gotten more laughs. The movie’s one saving grace has to be Uma Thurman (yum yum yum). Blonde Uma, brunette Uma, psycho Uma, Uma in revealing superhero outfit—it’s all good. She struggles dutifully with a poorly written character, and she does the neurotic bit very well.
What really lets the film down is its ambiguous take on the whole idea. Is Jenny/G-Girl the injured party, having suffered from years of trying to save the world and still be a regular gal? Or is Matt the one I should feel sorry for, even though he tries to ditch Jenny rather than help her with her neurosis? As this is a popcorn movie, I expected to be able to leave my brain at the door, but the old grey matter had to work a bit too much for what should have been a Friday-night laugh fest.
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