SYNOPSIS

Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) is an average guy who works for an architectural design firm as a project manager. His last relationship was six months ago, and his best friend Vaughan (Rainn Wilson, “The Office”) is trying to convince him to put himself back on the market and go on a few dates. On the subway, Vaughan spots an attractive-in-a-nerdy-librarian-sort-of-way woman sitting alone. With his encouragement, Matt nervously approaches her and asks her on a date.

It turns out that the girl is G-Girl (Uma Thurman), a super-hot local superhero. After a few dates she reveals her top-secret identity. After a few more dates, Matt reveals that he thinks she’s a little too needy and unpredictable and that they should probably “see other people.” She takes the break-up harshly and spends the rest of the movie attempting to ruin his life in order to get back at him.

Review by
STEVEN HARRELL

“My Super Ex Girlfriend” is a hilarious idea for a movie and has some seriously funny moments. Uma Thurman (“Kill Bill”) not only looks the part of a drop-dead blonde super-heroine, but she is surprisingly funny as her neurotic alter ego Jenny. The brunette wig and glasses seem to allow her to throw off her usually dramatic manners and become believably flustered, insecure, and emotional. Luke Wilson (“Old School,” “Legally Blonde”) gives one of his best performances. His under-acting is a perfect accompaniment to the onscreen lunacy. A subtle raised eyebrow or roll of the eyes allows him to elevate several scenes from mildly entertaining to laugh-out-loud hilarity.

Unfortunately, a funny premise and surprising performances from the leading actors only makes for about 20 minutes of actual funniness. Veteran comedy director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters,” “Stripes”) isn’t able to move the film from good concept to a full-blown comedy. Everything that doesn’t directly involve the two main characters feuding just doesn’t work. The set-up is unbelievable, and way too much time is spent with the talented-but-underdeveloped supporting cast. The irrepressible dorkiness that has made Rainn Wilson successful just doesn’t match up with his character’s major-player attitude. Wanda Sykes is also usually hilarious. But her character, like the movie as a whole, is stuck with one joke and nowhere else to go.

The PG-13 rating comes from quite a bit of sexual content, including several sex scenes. While they’re meant to be funny, they’re just too explicit and awkward. There’s also some harsh language and a brief instance of Luke Wilson partially nude (played for laughs).