djonn | Free movie! Film at 7....

Having scored a pass to a preview screening earlier in the week, I am just back from seeing My Super Ex-Girlfriend (you may well have seen trailers with Superman Returns and/or Dead Man's Chest), in which we observe the consequences when architectural-design geek Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) accidentally meets, dates, beds, and then quite understandably dumps Jenny "G-Girl" Johnson (Uma Thurman), who has serious control issues.....

On one hand, I was not blown away. On the other, this is not nearly as awful as one might expect.

I actually haven't seen a lot of Luke Wilson before now, but he delivers a surprisingly sympathetic turn as a normal suit-and-tie professional who more or less falls accidentally into a relationship with New York's premier superheroine, and does his level best to deal honorably with the consequences. Thurman, likewise, does a decent job of playing both sides of her part; as the bespectacled Jenny, she's awkward, appealing, and twitchy by turns, growing steadily more aggressive (in and out of bed) as she lets her inner G-Girl out. And Anna Faris, as Matt's gorgeous and understanding co-worker Hannah, is charming, and shows signs of being a considerably better actress than her film career (consisting largely of starring in the Scary Movie series) suggests.

The script is about two-thirds sexy-sitcom and one-third superpowers, the latter divided about evenly between heroics and revenge-stunts. For all the innuendo and bedroom action, however (and there's quite a bit), most of the sex is remarkably non-graphic except by admittedly broad implication. The one major moment of nudity involves neither Thurman nor Faris; rather, it's a full rear view of Wilson facing a roomful of high-powered Asian clients after G-Girl has invisibly stolen his clothes at superspeed. Other bits of vengeance are equally creative -- you've probably seen the promo featuring the shark being thrown through the window of Hannah's high-rise apartment.

Parts of the plot don't bear examining too closely, but if anything the story hangs together rather better than either Superman Returns or X-Men 3, and the script does particularly well at rendering Matt as a thoughtful, unexpectedly moral guy who wants to do the right thing. The trouble is that it tilts a little too far toward sweetness, thereby missing opportunities for humor (especially with respect to the speed with which Matt's apartment is repaired after G-Girl's visits) and rushing through a couple of key character moments -- particularly where nominal supervillain Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) is concerned.

Bottom line? As a superhero film, this is second-string at best; last summer's Sky High is crisper, funnier, and more consistently nuanced. As a comedy romance, it's almost as schizophrenic as Thurman's character -- the sex is plentiful (if clean!) and played mostly for laughs, while the romance is surprisingly character-driven. But it's well-intentioned and knows its own level; I'd count it worth a matinee admission or a DVD rental.