Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: late 20s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Outstanding high concept. Pre-sold.
MAJOR PLAYERS: Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Luke Wilson (Old School), Anna Faris (Scary Movie), Rainn Wilson (TV's "The Office"), and director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters)

Self-professed "crazy chick magnet" Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) has a meet cute via subway purse-snatching with Jenny Johnson (Thurman), an attractive, but unassuming, glasses-wearing brunette of an art dealer. Sure she's neurotic, jealous, needy - what thirtysomething New York singleton isn't? But what Matt finds out in short order is that the woman he's dating just so happens to be G-Girl, a crime-fighting, laser vision wielding, cape-flying bona fide superheroine. Before Matt
can truly enjoy all of her superpowers, Jenny gets jelly, going nutso over a somewhat innocent workplace friendship he has with Hannah (Faris), driving him to break up with her. But as the saying goes, there's nothing worse than a super-woman scorned...

"Super Ex" is hokey, predictable, and silly at times, but it's also a lot of fun. As if the deadpan lech Vaughn played by Rainn Wilson (no relation to the more famous filmmaking Wilson Brothers Owen, Luke, and Andrew) or the playfully caring coworker Hannah portrayed by Anna Faris weren't enough, Luke Wilson does what he does best: he plays the straight man. Seeming to always find himself in comedies around funny people or funny situations, Luke will never be as big a star as Owen who creates comedy wherever he goes. Yet as the "I'm a very forgettable person" dorky, corny Matt, he's as reliable as a Microsoft 401K. Whether his Matt is shaking off the effects of super-sex or struggling to keep Jenny's secret his secret - even as she turns his life into a cartoonish version of Hell, - Wilson will be there when you need him.

"I know I get a little crazy at times." - my ex-girlfriend. Okay, not exactly, but a lot of guys can empathize with Matt's plight. Jenny is "the trifecta": jealous, needy, has control issues, plus neurotic, bossy...Are we sure we're not talking about my ex here? Playing her straight, as if Superman were an insecure single woman with emotional problems, Thurman's G-Girl is neither lovable nor hatable - she's your
run-of-the-mill, vengeance-seeking, dumped woman, just with a few more tools of expression at her disposal than most (I mean, really, what woman HASN'T wanted to hang her ex upside down from the Statue of Liberty's torch?). There are a lot of situational laughs to be found here and Uma's game. Although the Don Payne script takes a couple of predictable turns towards the end, overall, the concept is just so
high, the homages and spoofing of superhero movies just too clever to let "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" fly solo.

@@@ REELS
(THREE REELS)
It's pretty hot – go give it a shot.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: late 20s black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Outstanding high concept. Pre-sold. MAJOR PLAYERS: Uma Thurman (Kill Bill), Luke Wilson (Old School), Anna Faris (Scary Movie), Rainn Wilson (TV's "The Office"), and director Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) Self-professed "crazy chick magnet" Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) has a meet cute via subway purse-snatching with Jenny Johnson (Thurman), an attractive, but unassuming, glasses-wearing brunette of an art dealer. Sure she's neurotic, jealous, needy - what thirtysomething New York singleton isn't? But what Matt finds out in short order is that the woman he's dating just so happens to be G-Girl, a crime-fighting, laser vision wielding, cape-flying bona fide superheroine. Before Matt can truly enjoy all of her superpowers, Jenny gets jelly, going nutso over a somewhat innocent workplace friendship he has with Hannah (Faris), driving him to break up with her. But as the saying goes, there's nothing worse than a super-woman scorned... "Super Ex" is hokey, predictable, and silly at times, but it's also a lot of fun. As if the deadpan lech Vaughn played by Rainn Wilson (no relation to the more famous filmmaking Wilson Brothers Owen, Luke, and Andrew) or the playfully caring coworker Hannah portrayed by Anna Faris weren't enough, Luke Wilson does what he does best: he plays the straight man. Seeming to always find himself in comedies around funny people or funny situations, Luke will never be as big a star as Owen who creates comedy wherever he goes. Yet as the "I'm a very forgettable person" dorky, corny Matt, he's as reliable as a Microsoft 401K. Whether his Matt is shaking off the effects of super-sex or struggling to keep Jenny's secret his secret - even as she turns his life into a cartoonish version of Hell, - Wilson will be there when you need him. "I know I get a little crazy at times." - my ex-girlfriend. Okay, not exactly, but a lot of guys can empathize with Matt's plight. Jenny is "the trifecta": jealous, needy, has control issues, plus neurotic, bossy...Are we sure we're not talking about my ex here? Playing her straight, as if Superman were an insecure single woman with emotional problems, Thurman's G-Girl is neither lovable nor hatable - she's your run-of-the-mill, vengeance-seeking, dumped woman, just with a few more tools of expression at her disposal than most (I mean, really, what woman HASN'T wanted to hang her ex upside down from the Statue of Liberty's torch?). There are a lot of situational laughs to be found here and Uma's game. Although the Don Payne script takes a couple of predictable turns towards the end, overall, the concept is just so high, the homages and spoofing of superhero movies just too clever to let "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" fly solo. @@@ REELS (THREE REELS) It's pretty hot – go give it a shot. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson