Richard Crouse

My Super Ex-Girlfriend draws on two unlikely sources for its inspiration—Fatal Attraction and Wonder Woman. In the film Luke Wilson plays Matt, a single guy who begins dating Jenny, played by Uma Thurman. At first she seems like the perfect girl for him but he soon realizes that not only is she beautiful, but she’s also jealous, needy and controlling. When her trifecta of super-neurosis become too much for him he decides to break up with her and turn his attentions to a co-worker. But like the song says, “breaking up is hard to do,” particularly when the dumpee is a superhero named G-Girl, hell bent on revenge.

The film is obviously an imaginary tale because it supposes that someone would break off a relationship with Uma Thurman. We’re in Lord of the Rings fantasy-land territory here.

We’re also in some pretty hilarious territory. My Super Ex-Girlfriend is director Ivan Reitman’s funniest movie since Ghostbusters, another special effects laden comedy set in New York. Reitman skillfully takes the idea of a super-gifted woman who falls for a regular guy—think Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie—and puts a spin on it. What if the woman was slightly nuts and didn’t take rejection very well?

In the dual role of Jenny Johnson/G-Girl Uma Thurman finally shows that she has a comedic side. So often cast in serious dramas Thurman hasn’t really displayed an affinity for comedy although she has tried to make us laugh twice in recent years in the forgettable Prime and The Producers. Perhaps working with a veteran comedy director like Reitman, the man behind the camera for Meatballs, Stripes, a couple of Ghostbusters movies and Kindergarten Cop, helped hone her comedy chops because she is funny here as the vengeful super-hero. She’s funny and as I like to say “Umessent.”

My Super Ex-Girlfriend is a welcome twist on the old boy-meets-girl story and is funnier and smarter than the trailers would lead you to believe.