MY SUPER Ex-GIRLFRIEND: G-GIRL BLUES

MY SUPER Ex-GIRLFRIEND (romantic comedy)
Cast: Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, Anna Faris and Eddie Izzard
Director: Ivan Reitman
Time: 97 mins
Rating: * * * (out of 4)

PREAMBLE: Breaking up is hard to do. Everyone knows that and they even have songs and movies about it. The big deal here is breaking up with a neurotic woman who is also superhero. Now, that can be superhell. However, it is also funny and macabre – in a refreshing sort of way….

WHAT’S IT ABOUT? Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) is an ordinary guy looking for love. He actually has this co-worker, Hannah Lewis (Anna Faris), whom he has feelings for but she already has a hot boyfriend and he does not want to spoil things for her. So when he meets Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman) in the subway, he figures he has got it made.

Their first dinner date has not gone well – she has to go to the bathroom a couple of times – but what happens later in bed is just mind-blowing (not to mention what happened to the bed). What Matt does not know is that Jenny is the alter-ego of G-Girl, a superhero with powers akin to Superman’s. However, when he finds out later, he gets cold feet and tries to break up with her. And that’s when things get from messy to downright deadly.

First, Jenny also has a ‘super-temper’ that can result in a Great White shark being thrown into his room. Or his car suspended in orbit. Next, there is Jenny’s ex-boyfriend Barry aka Prof Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) who engages Matt’s help in a vendetta scheme to ‘neutralise’ G-Girl. And lastly, Matt realises that he is actually in love with Hannah! Talk of bad timing…

WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? Superhero capers like Superman and Spider-Man have their love interests as subplots. In this rom-com directed by Ivan Reitman, we have the love interest as the main plot and therein lie the fun and games. Think “Fatal Attraction meets Superwoman” and you will get the idea.

HIGHLIGHTS: Most women in the audience would understand how Jenny feels when she finds a third party (Hannah) in her relationship. And they would root for her. Most men would understand Matt and his need for a ‘roll-in-the-hay’, especially when he is cheered on by his buddy, Vaughn (Rainn Wilson at his most memorable role). You would cheer for him too when he finally realises his love for Hannah.
Also, there are quite a few laughs to be had in this slapdash comedy, like when Matt and G-Girl go for the Mile High Club (mid-air sex) experience – without the airplane. Or the wobbly way Matt walks to work in that ‘morning-after’ scene…

LOWLIGHTS: In the performance department, Thurman is definitely not as sexy as she was in the Kill Bill movies but she makes up for it by being deliciously nuts. Luke Wilson is passable as her victim/lover but it is Rainn Wilson has us eating out of his hand with the funniest lines in the movie.

THE LOWDOWN: Just the film for fans of fantasy romance and dating couples.