My Super Ex-Girlfriend Synopsis: When a regular guy dumps a superhero for her neediness, she uses her powers to make his life a living hell.
After a bad breakup, Matt is eager to get back into the dating scene. After getting her purse back from a robber, he manages to score a date with the beautiful Jenny but soon realizes Jenny is quite a handful. She’s secretive, needy, jealous, and increasingly aggressive towards Matt. Matt wants to break up with her, but it’s difficult because Jenny is also G-Girl, a crime-fighting superhero with incredible powers. Those powers are used when Matt finally breaks up with her, and Jenny is dead-set on making Matt’s life a living hell.
My Super Ex-Girlfriend is not a very good movie. It’s not a dumpster fire, either. It’s sort of resting just below mediocrity, which is really disappointing because I like Ivan Reitman a lot. But every director has a few stinkers, and this is definitely one of them.
Uma Thurman really seems to be enjoying herself as a woman who embodies the “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” trope. Jenny turns into every sexist cliché imaginable. Think Taylor Swift’s Blank Space, but on steroids. Luke Wilson eases into the role of normal guy Matt, but despite his natural affability, Matt’s not a terribly likable person. That doesn’t mean he deserves all the abuse Jenny throws at him, but I wasn’t overly sympathetic either.
Anna Faris plays Matt’s co-worker and secret crush, Hannah, but her comedic chops are completely wasted on the role. The bright spot in the cast is Eddie Izzard as Barry/Professor Bedlam, Jenny’s ex-best friend turned nemesis. He’s got all the good lines, and at one point, I asked out loud, “Why would Eddie Izzard do this movie??” But it’s fine. I’m glad he did because I actually loved it anytime he was on screen.
There was a lot of potential in the idea for this movie. With a sharper, funnier script, it could have been a brazen take on the rom-com/superhero genres. Give it an R rating and let it lean into the superhero-turned-villain theme, and you’ve got a pretty great dark comedy on your hands. Unfortunately, My Super Ex-Girlfriend plays it completely safe and relies on CGI (that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) instead of plot. I might have forgiven the bad special effects if not for the ridiculous scene where Jenny/G-Girl tosses a great white shark into Hannah’s apartment after Hannah and Matt hook up.
I’ll forgive Reitman for this semi-clunker because a few years after this film, he directed No Strings Attached, which was definitely more successful as an enjoyable romantic comedy. To be fair to My Super Ex-Girlfriend, some humorous moments made me laugh out loud, so because of that, and Eddie Izzard, I settled on two stars. But if you don’t watch this rom-com, you’re not missing out on anything.
Watched: 05/06/2022
Notable Song: Lover Come Up by Josh Kelley
