Bilgi :One of my favorite film scenes comes in M.
Night Shyamalan's film Unbreakable, when Samuel L.
Jackson—playing an eccentric collector of comic books—explains
to our unwitting hero, Bruce Willis, the importance of the
superhero mythology as a mirror for the human condition.
According to ol' Sam, there's more to a comic book than just
grown men wearing tights and punching each others' lights out;
superhero stories are underappreciated art forms, tall tales
in which the truth is exaggerated but still reflected in a
powerful way. His theory seems quite credible—indeed, one need
look no further for proof than to Pixar's blockbuster hit
The Incredibles, a movie in which superpowers come to
represent the different gifts of each character, turning a
super-parody into a super-insightful story about families and
the different roles that each family member plays.
Uma Thurman stars as reluctant
superhero G-Girl
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My Super Ex-Girlfriend is the latest
film to take the superhero myth and transport it into mundane,
everyday life—and, when compared to a movie like The
Incredibles, it might seem like something of a missed
opportunity, as it doesn't quite milk its rich material for
insights into the human condition. In other words, the tropes
and trappings of a superhero story are here, but they never
become symbolic or representative of anything particularly
profound. Rather, they're here just to fuel the film's comedy
and romance. And that's just fine, for while it may not be
anything especially thought-provoking, Super Ex happens
to be one of those extremely rare romantic comedies that is,
in fact, both romantic and comedic—not to mention surprising
and altogether likeable.
If you've seen the trailers—heck, even if you
just know the film's title—you can surmise the basic
plot. A regular Joe, Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) meets a woman
who's secretly a superhero, Jenny Johnson, a.k.a. G-Girl (Uma
Thurman). The two of them go out a few times, and then Matt,
sensing that it isn't going to work out, tries as gently as he
can to break up with her. Trouble is, Jenny is, in Matt's
words, "an emotional basket case"—she's very needy, very
clingy, and, much to Matt's chagrin, very superpower-ful. Oh,
and she's a little angry at him.
What the trailers don't show you, though, is
that the movie spends a surprising amount of time focusing on
their initial meeting and courtship—the breakup doesn't come
until close to an hour into the film—and it works surprisingly
well. Wilson and Thurman are both fine comedic actors, and
they've both got extremely likable onscreen personas. Best of
all, they've got tremendous chemistry together. We root for
their relationship to work out, even though we know that,
unless the title is one monster of a misnomer, things can only
end badly.
Luke Wilson as Matt Saunders,
whose ex-girlfriend wreaks super-havoc on his
life
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When things finally do come to a close, the
plot becomes a bit more complicated. Jenny doesn't take the
breakup well at all. She hurls Matt's car into orbit around
the globe. She uses her super-speed to strip all his clothes
off him in the middle of a business meeting. She throws a
shark through his window. All in all, it's not an amicable
split. As for Matt, he begins seeing a co-worker who he has
long had a crush on, Hannah (Anna Farris). Plus, he's visited
by G-Girl's arch-nemesis, Professor Bedlam (British comedian
Eddie Izzard), who has a seemingly foolproof plan to rob
G-Girl of her powers.
The film walks a very fine line—those who
think superhero motifs are wicked-cool should find plenty of
clever twists on the genre here, while those who think
superhero stories are just stupid will find that the movie
doesn't take itself too seriously. Even more impressive,
director Ivan Reitman keeps things moving along efficiently,
but takes the time to develop the two lead characters, to
allow their chemistry to blossom, and to make sure that comedy
and romance both play into the story. Reitman is best
known for directing such blockbuster comedies as the
genre-bending Ghostbusters flicks, and other early Bill
Murray vehicles like Meatballs and Stripes;
thankfully, Super Ex is at least as smart as those
movies, a comedy that gives us love and laughter just for the
sake of love and laughter. In other words, it's something of a
comeback after some of the director's recent flops, like
Evolution and Six Days, Seven Nights.
G-Girl takes Matt for an
unscheduled flight high above
New York
City
|
Mostly, though, it's the cast that sells this
thing. Luke Wilson mostly plays it straight, and he proves to
be just as charming and lovably laid back as brother Owen;
he's a natural as a leading man. Uma Thurman has been doing
more and more comedic work in recent years, and it suits her
well; here she takes a neurotic and controlling character and
actually makes her easy to like. Wanda Sykes and Eddie Izzard
get mixed results in supporting roles; Sykes is annoying, but
Izzard is note-perfect, leaving a strong impression despite
having little screen time. Likewise, Rainn Wilson alternates
between funny and repugnant as Matt's sex-crazed guy friend.
And Anna Faris is beautiful and intelligent as Matt's
friend/crush Hannah; she deserves a chance to play the leading
lady herself.
The movie's ending—like the rest of the
film—somehow pulls off the unusual feat of being surprising
without being particularly unconventional; it doesn't reinvent
the wheel, but it does manage to come across as fresh rather
than predictable, and it'll please moviegoers of both genders.
That's almost unheard of with this particular genre, meaning
that, even if it falls slightly short of super,
Ex-Girlfriend is a film that's well worth having
around. |
