My Super Ex-Girlfriend: Movie & DVD Review (2006)

(Originally published 2006)

Let's face it--sometimes, it would be sweet to have superpowers. And not just because they could be used for good (boring) or because possessing them would likely make your body look great in lycra (an undeniable perk given that so much can go so wrong in lycra). Where superpowers really could come in handy is in, say, the wake of a nasty breakup with a former love.

Just imagine what you could do to the offending party. Instead of throwing a brick through their bedroom window, you could throw a man-eating shark into their bedroom. Instead of having their car towed as a prank, you could just hurl it into outerspace. And why say to your ex that "You are so going to regret this," if you can't really follow through and make them really regret it?

It's this fantasy that's at the heart of the new Ivan Reitman comedy, "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," a punchy, bawdy film that imagines Uma Thurman as G-Girl, a neurotic, golden-haired superhero who routinely saves the day while patrolling the skies of New York City.

In her secret life as a superhero, G-Girl has it going on. She's hot, she's smart, she knows how to wear that suit--hell, she's Uma Thurman. But in the double life she leads as Jenny Johnson, a mousy curator of a swank art gallery, she is lonely beyond reason, with zip for a love life.

When into her life comes Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson), a nice guy who never has been lucky in love--just ask his wannabe-womanizing best friend, Vaughn (Rainn Wilson)--Jenny initially resists him. But when circumstances nudge her toward him, her super-powered wall of self-protection dissolves and off they go on their first date, where Jenny reveals a sense of controlling neediness that suggests she's a bit off kilter.

For Matt, the good news is that she's a powerhouse in bed--literally, shockingly--with some of the film's funniest scenes realized there. The problem for Matt is that as much as he enjoys Jenny's enthusiasm, he's hung up on co-worker, Hannah (a nicely cast Anna Faris), who has his heart in ways that Jenny simply doesn't.

And when Jenny senses this, which she does, and when Matt dumps her, which he does, let's just say the gloves are off, with a furious Jenny going through the sort of dramatic motions that perhaps only Glenn Close's Alex Forrest of "Fatal Attraction" could fully appreciate.

Working through a subplot is the terrific British comedian Eddie Izzard as Professor Bedlam, a supervillain who knows exactly how Jenny got her powers and who wants to rob her of them for his own personal gain. Izzard offers just the right touch, underplaying the role where others would have overplayed it.

With Don Payne ("The Simpsons") behind the script, this tight, silly movie is another fine showpiece for Thurman, who continues the winning streak she's been riding since her "Kill Bill" movies, which also showcased a character who had been damned by a man and who went to extremes to right that wrong. "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" follows suit, smoothly sending up romantic comedies and the superhero genre with such panache, it leaps into mid-summer as one of its best diversions.

Grade: A-